Falling in Love with the Billionaire's Son
by TheSwanWriter
Summary: Steve Rogers is the new kid in town, that is, the city of Avengers, NY. He's also new at his school, Stark High. Somewhat shy and goofy, he's never been very good at making friends. But hey, when you start crushing on the son of said town's billionaire mayor, problems like that are less than trivial. A Steve/Tony High School AU.
1. Welcome' to Stark High

A.N. New story, just saw Avengers, ate some bologna, and thought of a fic.

Not abandoning anything. Please no comments from my sister on her converting me to slash, or I'll go fangirl over Loki. :P It will be funny later on, I hope. Please enjoy and forgive any OOCness. xD

EDIT, 12/4/12: also in the process of revamping this and I am also posting it to my brand new AO3 account. It's actually one of the most popular Superhusbands fics on FFnet, surprisingly. This is the polished version, I've fixed most of the grammatical and spelling errors. I'm leaving the ANs, even if they annoy you, hehe. My AO3 name is TheSwanWriter, if you want to find me there.

Chapter One

Fifteen year old Steve Rogers walked slowly into the big and somewhat daunting building of Avengers' best (And only) high school, Stark High.

He entered a hallway and glanced around a bit nervously and saw the usual thing you'd see at any high school. Teenagers talking, texting, some actually studying- well, only the 'nerds'- and rummaging through their lockers. The only part of this that bothered Steve on this warm and breezy fall day, was the lack of loners. It looked like everyone had a friend. This was like his old school, but he had actually had friends there. The point was, that he'd have nobody to hang out with.

He just decided to find his locker amongst the sea of teens. He brushed past them with a few 'Excuse me's and reached locker 46. He opened it and was faced with books. Well, that and a few pictures of bikini-clad models.

"So, new kid, what are you doing in *my* locker?" Steve turned to face a dark-haired teen with an amused look on his face.

"Oh, I thought it was mine," Steve muttered and looked at the piece of paper that he'd scrawled the number on and realized that his locker was 45.

"Whatever. Don't worry about it, I guess it's all good." Said kid grabbed a few books and began to head off.

"I'm Steve." Steve added as he started to walk away.

"I'm Tony," he said and chuckled. "Ah, you're such a noob here, it's funny really." He walked off without another word.

Steve stood there in confusion. "How am I a noob?" He wondered aloud and grabbed his books that he would need for English, and left, still wondering about Tony's words. "I thought that was only said on the Internet anyways."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve picked at the worn knee of his jeans as the English teacher droned on about something he already knew about. He knew that he could be a bit of a nerd when it came to spelling, grammar, and that sort of thing, but it sure made everything easier when English was your first class and you were running solely on chocolate milk and Pop-Tarts. You didn't have to catch the teacher's every word to understand what was going on.

He glanced around at the other students in the AP English classroom and saw two kids that looked stereotypically nerdy, plus some kids who looked pretty much like him, and, much to his surprise, the guy he met earlier, Tony.

He noticed Tony was sitting by himself and thought maybe he met someone with no friends who'd be friends with him, that sure would be nice, especially on the first day of school.

Steve was snapped out of his thoughts by the teacher calling his name to answer some question about sentence structure or something like that.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony glanced at the clock, annoyed. English class always took forever and oh, how it bored him. He'd much rather be at home building circuit boards for fun or something, instead of learning how to construct a sentence and blah blah blah.

He felt someone watching him and turned his head to notice the kid that was snooping in his locker earlier. Steve or something. Anyways, Steve-or-something had been staring at him. Tony raised an eyebrow and he must've realized what he was doing, because he turned away and looked embarrassed. Tony rolled his eyes. Yeah, that guy definitely was new and obviously didn't know how this school worked. Oh well, he'd be sure to have someone explain it to him or something.

"Stark, are you paying attention?" He heard his stern teacher, Ms. Maria Hill, remark. Tony realized that he'd unwittingly been lost in thought. He snapped out of it and grinned before replying with some wisecrack remark about said (young and good looking) teacher, to which she simply pursed her lips and went back to talking.

That Steve kid had rolled his eyes at Tony's joke. Tony frowned and thought indignantly to himself on how everyone laughed at his jokes, not because he was Tony *Stark*, but simply because they were funny. Or at least, funny to everyone but Steve. Tony didn't like that. Steve was different than everyone else.

The bell ringing broke Tony's train of thought, and he gathered up his things before exiting to the hallway and his girlfriend, Pepper.

"Hey," The strawberry blonde said happily as Tony slid through the crowd to her.

"I'm not a horse," He remarked dryly.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "What's got you in such an annoyed mood?" She inquired, a bit curious.

"Nothing Pepper, just some weird new kid who's watching me like the paparazzi watch Lindsey Lohan." He caught Steve's gaze and saw him give a small wave. Tony laughed and ignored him.

"Oh, the kid in the American flag shirt? Be nice Tony, I heard his parents died," Pepper said quietly.

"Somehow I think that was some lie that he thought up to make me sorry for him," Tony replied.

"Yeah, not everything is about you." Pepper rolled her eyes and hit his arm playfully.

"You're right, just everything in this school." He pointed out. Pepper just kissed him good bye and went to her next class.

"Ah, well, he's got a girlfriend. Maybe he doesn't have any other friends," Steve thought hopefully as he walked up to him.

"Oh, Steve isn't it?" Tony said as he approached him.

"Yeah. You're Tony, right?" Steve replied, looking a bit nervous, but hey, his uncle always told him that to make friends, you have to make the first move. Or was that bo- er, girlfriends? Oh well, either way.

"Nah, I'm Bruce Wayne." At the weird look on Steve's face, he continued. "Do you not watch TV? Batman? Superhero? Ah, whatever. Sarcasm, it's less fun when you have to explain it. Of course I'm Tony, I'm also leaving." This kid bothered him a little bit, he couldn't really put his finger on it.

"Hey, uh, Tony, do you wanna hang out at lunch?" Steve asked. He suddenly felt every pair of eyes in the hallway fixed on him. "Mind your own business." The brave part of him wanted to say, but the shy part just kept itself asserted and he said nothing.

"What?" Tony looked so amused that Steve was getting a bit frustrated. Couldn't he see that Steve was nervous and trying to make normal conversation? That wasn't very polite.

"Uh, I just thought, you know, since it didn't look like you have any friends either-" Steve, much to his annoyance, was interrupted by a loud burst of laughter coming from Tony. He flushed and wanted to walk away, but the words that came out next were not at all what he meant to say.

"It's not funny." The entire hallway stared at him like he was pretending to be a Norse god, with two heads. (Were there any Norse gods with two heads?) Except they also were looking at him like a black hole was going to eat him up and if they stayed too long they'd be swallowed up too but they couldn't bring themselves to run from the 'terror' about to ensue.

"No friends. That is funny. You're definitely talking about yourself, because I have so many friends I couldn't count them all, and I'm a genius. I'm not anything like you think. Do you even know who I am?" He said sarcastically.

"I guess not." Steve said.

"Uh, hello, Tony Stark here. Son of the billionaire owner of this town and everything in it." Steve looked truly surprised by this news and Tony would've felt sorry for humiliating him like this, but he was, well, Tony. Plus he brought it upon himself anyways.

"Oh. I didn't know that." Steve scratched his neck. The whole hallway snickered and they began to go their separate ways, thankful that no Tony-wrath had been unleashed.

"Well, now you do, and the way this school works is that you stay away from me, I stay away from you, and we're all happy. Nice knowing you." Tony left with that.

Steve honestly wished he could've made a better first impression on this... interesting school. No friends and he probably just ensured that no one in this school would ever like him. Making enemies with the most popular kid in school. Yeah, he was off to a great start...


	2. All the People Worth Knowing

A.N I so didn't expect to get such a positive response to this story! :D Thank you all for your reviews and favorites and alerts. They make me happy, and make me want to continue writing. I think I might change the humor category to friendship or drama, just in case I don't make it too funny. But hey, it'll have elements of humor at least.

Chapter Two

Steve sat alone in the loud cafeteria, poking forlornly at his bologna sandwich which wasn't looking nearly as appetizing as it had seemed when he made it that morning.

He was completely ignored by everyone now. It seemed like everyone liked Tony. No, everyone *loved* Tony. They adored Tony, they did everything that Tony told them to. Tony, Tony, TONY.

Steve realized that he had gotten so frustrated that he slammed his fist on the table and everyone stared at him. He shrunk into his seat and decided to simply ignore them. Well, until he saw a blond haired athletic-looking teen come towards him.

"Hey, you're the new kid right?" That wasn't what Steve was expecting at all, but he was very grateful to be proven wrong. No one wants to get beat up by a jock, that would make his first day even worse.

"Yeah. Steve Rogers." The blond kid must've taken this as an invitation to sit down, so he plopped down next to Steve and smiled.

"Yeah, heard you got off on the wrong side with Tony this morning. You're not the only one. I'm Thor by the way. Don't ask about the name, my mom was a huge geek." Thor rolled his eyes.

"Okay, uh, hi Thor. Did you get off on the wrong foot with Tony too?" Steve asked.

"You could say that. I'm his... well, I'm sure he'd consider me a rival. I consider us frenemies." Thor grinned. Steve noticed that this guy smiled a lot. He thought that was pretty cool.

"So, allow me to introduce you to the entire student population, or at least the one that 'matters'." Thor started with pointing out someone Steve hadn't noticed before, another loner, but he looked content with his situation.

"That's my brother, Loki. I don't even want to *know* what he's doing right now. Probably something to do with the doom of Clint. Anyways, he's a pretty big sociopath with a superiority complex. We don't get along very well, but he doesn't get along with anybody. Except Natasha Romanoff over there. Loki's got a *major* crush slash borderline obsessive crush on her." Thor paused for breath and then pointed out a fiery red head girl and a brunette guy talking at a table near Loki's.

"That's Natasha and her 'friend', Clint. We all know they're totally head over heels for each other, but I doubt it will ever happen. They're both so, eh, they like to look tough and menacing and goth. Okay, forget the goth part, that's still my brother. He was goth in seventh grade." Steve looked at the aforementioned couple. She had short curly red hair and wore a black leather jacket, he could see why Loki would have a crush on her. She was certainly pretty. He also thought Thor probably liked to exaggerate, they certainly didn't look goth. Steve knew goth. They were not goth.

"Okay, moving on. Over sitting with Tony is Bruce Banner. They're best friends, and polar opposites. Bruce is pretty nice, calm, and pretty quiet, but I saw him get angry once," Thor shook his head. "He goes *insane*. Never get on his bad side. It's like he has some bizarre alter ego or something."

Steve glanced at the table where they were sitting. Bruce looked so nice. He had short wavy brown hair and he was mostly paying attention to his food rather than his best friend's - VERY obnoxious. - antics. "When'd you see him get angry?"

"See Tony's girlfriend over there? She's Pepper. She's pretty flirtatious. One time this creep in his senior year had her cornered behind the gym and Bruce found them. He came unhinged. He beat the guy to a bloody pulp, I found them fighting," He paused and chuckled. "Suffice it to say, even if allowed that guy never would've come back. He was expelled, Bruce got detention for like two weeks. It shouldn't be funny, but that creep deserved it."

"Wow, I can't see a guy like him doing that," Steve said skeptically. Yup, definitely an exaggeration.

"Always the quiet ones," He replied.

"Wait, you have a British accent, so why're you here in boring old New York? You should've stayed in England. They don't have Tony Stark in England." Steve said with a frown.

"Oh, they have worse. My parents moved us here when I started high school. I'm sixteen now, and Loki's fourteen." Thor explained.

"Ah." Steve tried to eat his sandwich but found that it was soggy and gross, so he threw it away and ate his apple. He'd pay for cafeteria lunches from now on.

The bell rang and all the students began to file out of the cafeteria and to their lockers. Steve walked out and was surprised when Thor followed him.

"I thought you were a 'popular' kid too," he said.

"Tony's words, not mine. I'm just a jock." Thor shrugged. "I'll see you later then."

"Yeah, sure." Steve said goodbye. Hmm, maybe this day wasn't going to be-

Steve had walked right into Tony without looking and they had both fallen to the floor. He was now sprawled on top of Tony who looked very annoyed and uncomfortable. Said genius had been going through his locker at the time and now half of its contents were spilled across the floor.

Steve got up, grabbed his books, and quickly ran off, leaving a shocked Pepper to help up Tony who started cursing loudly in the direction Steve had gone in.

"What a stupid frickin'..." Tony looked furious.

"Tony, why are you so angry? I'm sure it was an accident," Bruce said as he helped him gather his things.

"Accident? I don't care. That kid has bothered me since I met him!" Tony shoved everything that he didn't need back into his locker.

"Uh Tony, you just met him this morning," Pepper stated, not really in surprise, seeing as how Tony acted like this most of the time.

Tony just huffed but then slowly a smile spread across his face. If it were a cartoon, you'd see a lightbulb.

"Tony, let it go," Bruce warned quietly.

"I will, just as soon as I get revenge." He said melodramatically.

"Shut up, you sound like Loki," Pepper groaned.

"Great idea Pepper, we'll say Loki did it..." Tony trailed off and began rattling off plans for pranks to pull on Steve. Pepper and Bruce exchanged worried glances


	3. Chinese Food & House Invasions

A.N. Well, the overwhelming response to this makes me so happy! It seems that over 197 people have visited my story. 197 is the number of people in the US that visited it. xD Last I checked, at least.

Oh, and, thanks again for the amazing alerts and favorites. Reviews mean the most, so all my reviewers are so very appreciated. :) Here's the third chapter.

Oh, and I guess I don't need to say this, but whatever. I saw The Avengers again! :D It was epic, and so was all the Tony/Steve interaction. Teehee!

Chapter Three

Steve quickly pedaled his bike the six blocks it took him to get home. He was exhausted and in his reasoning, the sooner he got home, the sooner he could sleep.

"Hey, weren't you talking to Thor earlier?" He stopped riding and caught his breath before turning to face the voice who walked across the street. It was the red head girl from earlier. Natalia or something.

"Oh, yeah. Uh, I'm Steve Rogers." Steve replied.

"Natasha Romanoff." She looked at the large house to her left. "That's my house right there."

Steve glanced at it. "That's huge." He said simply, rather impressed.

"Nah, Clint's house is bigger." She said with a mildly annoyed tone.

"I thought you guys were friends." Steve said pointedly.

"Hey, we are." Natasha said quickly. "Friends have friendly competition." She grinned. "Maybe Clint and I can sit with you and Thor at lunch tomorrow, if he's not being a stupid 'I can shoot an apple off Tony's head and 'accidently' miss so I'm better than all of you' jerk." She rolled her eyes. "See you later." Natasha sprinted up the stairs to her house and left a somewhat bewildered Steve behind.

"Uh, sure." He said to himself and hopped back on his bike.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve walked in and threw his backpack on the couch before sitting down himself.

"Hey Uncle, how was your day?" He said as his legal guardian walked into the room.

"Same as always. Make any friends at school?" His uncle replied.

"Uh, sort of. I hung out with this cool guy named Thor at lunch, and then on the way home I ran into a girl from school, Natasha." Steve answered.

"A girl?" His uncle gave him a teasing look.

"Uncle..."

"Right. I remember the whole thing, your dad explained it. Just saying." He grinned and tossed Steve a Pepsi.

"Thanks." Steve waited a few minutes for the carbonation to die down before popping it open and going upstairs to his room, which was still full of packing boxes.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

He remained in his room almost the rest of the night, until his uncle walked in.

"Hey, afraid I have an important business meeting in NYC, so I gotta run, I'll be back tomorrow after noon. I have a friend's number on the fridge if you need help. I'm sure he'll be happy to help out."

"I'll be fine." Steve muttered and didn't look up from his laptop.

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, his uncle left. Steve sat there for a few minutes before realizing he was hungry and he descended the stairs with the old phone book in his hands, looking up takeout numbers.

"Don't they have a Pizza Hut here?" He muttered. Steve finally settled on some Chinese takeout number. He hoped his uncle wouldn't mind him using his money, but he was pretty well off anyways.

About an hour later, Steve has finished dinner but he was as tired as he had been earlier, so he brushed his teeth, changed into his pajamas, and went to sleep.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve awoke to a thumping sound outside his front door. "Burglar" was his first thought, and he really didn't need all his uncle's expensive gun collection getting stolen. He grabbed his cell phone and snuck downstairs, grabbing the piece of paper his uncle had put on the refrigerator and dialed it.

"Hello?" He heard a hoarse, sleepy, but undeniably familiar voice say.

"Stark residence, who is this?" The voice continued in an annoyed manner.

"T-Tony?" He stuttered in surprise.

"Is this that Steve kid? Why the-" Steve hung up the phone in mild embarrassment. His uncle was friends with the *Starks*. Wow. Everyone really did love Tony.

Another sound from outside before he heard a quiet knock. Someone was definitely knocking. He peered through the peep-hole and opened the door when he saw who was outside.

"Thor?" He said with sleep still evident in his voice.

"Hey Steve." Thor answered in his British voice, which sounded somewhat strained and also exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked with a hint of worry.

"Not really. I know this is strange and all, considering we barely know each other, but uh, could I maybe crash on your couch for the rest of the night?" Thor asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, of course. My uncle's gone to New York anyway, so I'm alone." He opened the door and let Thor in before shutting and locking it.

"Want some leftover Chinese?" Steve offered.

"No. I don't feel like eating." The cheerful jock from school looked completely different as he sunk into the couch, still wearing his day clothes.

"What the heck happened?" Steve asked.

"It's a long story," He yawned. "But you sort of deserve to hear it. My brother was caught breaking into the Starks' house after school. Apparently he was stealing something. I don't know. He claims that he wasn't stealing anything, but he won't offer any other explanation. Anyways, my mum and dad were *furious*. That's an understatement. They started yelling, then Loki started yelling, then I started yelling, and pretty soon the whole house was shaking. We have loud voices you know." He paused for breath and continued. "My dad yelled for Loki to straighten up or they'd kick him out, and then my mother yelled at them to stop fighting and calm down, and then Loki yelled that he wouldn't be kicked out, he'd just leave. That's what he did, he left." Thor sank further into the couch.

Steve didn't know what to say. He just sat there. "Well, why come to my house?" He asked simply.

"You're the closest, plus I figured hey, why not do this as an invitation to be friends? After all, I always invade their houses right after I meet them." He joked weakly and laid down.

"Right. So we're friends?" Steve was feeling even more tired.

Thor yawned. "Yeah, friends." He stayed still for a few minutes and then Steve heard snoring.

"Wow, you fall asleep fast." Steve chuckled and threw a blanker over the bigger teen before running up the stairs to his room and falling back asleep, before noticing that the time was after one AM.

A.N. More humor and Tony next chapter, I promise! You'll also get to see some of Natasha and Clint. But not together. Haha. I'm so evil. *Dodges tomatoes from Clintasha fans* Gosh, I have so many of these. I could make homemade pizza. An everymeat pizza! Like Thor loves. :D I got that from a fic. Pretty sure it was 'House Arrest'... Oh yes, it was. Go read it, it's hilarious! (The author is... Ah crap, I don't remember. Not me, I know that much.) It's Avengers. In case you couldn't tell. xD


	4. Pranks and Breakfast Invaders

A.N. more reviews and alerts and favorites? I LOVE YOU READERS! :D

Chapter Four

Steve woke to the delicious smell of frying bacon, omelets, and pancakes. He was happy until he remembered that his uncle was in NYC. He rushed downstairs and was faced with the strangest sight he'd ever seen. Next to that bizarre video on YouTube of the weird guy roller-skating in a diaper.

Natalia-Natasha, Clint, and Thor were all sitting at the dining room table looking thoroughly pleased with themselves. He glanced into the kitchen. Pans were strewn about and there were flour marks from the homemade pancakes that Thor had made. (He had flour marks on himself. He had obviously gone home and changed because he wasn't wearing his same outfit anymore, which was probably a mistake considering his current state.) The kitchen would definitely need cleaning.

Steve walked back into the dining room with a funny look on his face. Somewhere between "ZOMG WHAT HAVE YOU DONE AND WHY ARE YOU ALL INVADING MY HOUSE?" and "ZOMG, you guys made me breakfast thanks so much for caring, I love you all!"

Thor flashed him a huge grin. "I was grateful for you letting me stay here, so I invited my friends over to help me make you breakfast. We made plenty for us too." The others smiled.

"Uh, thank you..." Steve sat down to his pancakes, eggs, and bacon breakfast. The others saw that as a sign that they could eat too so they dug in.

"So uh, is it a welcoming custom to invade new kids houses and make them breakfast?" Steve asked.

Thor looked a little sheepish. "No, I didn't think about that. Hehe, my bad."

Clint looked up from his already half-devoured meal and chuckled. "I haven't officially met you, have I? Clint Barton." He said proudly like it meant something.

"Uh..." Steve gave him a blank stare.

"Shut up Clint. His dad's a champion archer. Clint's so very proud of the fact that he won some trophy in the Olympics." Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Oh. Well, I'm not a huge fan of sports. My dad was a fan." Steve said, his voice getting somewhat quieter.

"Speaking of, where are your parents?" Thor asked. Steve was silent.

"What? Are they dead?" He joked. Steve stared at his plate and Clint and Natasha glared at Thor.

Thor looked positively mortified. "Oh holy... I'm uh-"

"It's alright. Yeah, they're dead." Steve said in a suddenly flat tone.

"I guess that's why you moved here. To live with your uncle." Natasha said quietly.

"Sorry to bother you with all this crap, you guys just meant to be nice." Steve apologized quickly.

"Hey man, it's fine. We don't have any problems of our own that need worrying about, unless you count Thor's beyond dysfunctional family, so it doesn't bother us to feel bad for you." Clint said, badly attempting to be comforting.

"Shut up before you make him feel worse!" Natasha swatted her friend and rolled her eyes.

"It was a military accident." Steve stated abruptly and they all looked at him. "What? I could tell you were wondering." He smiled beside himself. "But away from that depressing subject, it's nice to have friends."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Pepper, I need your help!" Tony announced as he approached his girlfriend outside the high school.

"With what? I'm not doing your English homework, it's not my fault you spend your time building robots and circuit boards instead of understanding the basic rules of the English language." She replied.

"I know all of the English language- That's beside the point. I need you to help me with my revenge plan." He said with melodramatic desperation in his voice.

"Do it out yourself!" Pepper looked annoyed and she left Tony alone.

He huffed when he noticed Steve with Thor and his gang of weirdo friends. What, the kid thought he could slide his way into the next best group of teens in the school? Tony didn't think so. Nuh uh. He was going to end it. Steve might become more popular than him. Which was definitely not allowed to happen.

"Ha, I thought Loki would be in Juvie now. Stupid rich parents." Tony thought to himself when he saw Loki walk onto the school grounds and shooting a positively murderous glare at Tony.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A few days had gone by with no bothering from Tony. Steve was having the best time with his new friends. They had quite a bit in common. They all loved athletic activities. Thor was great at football and weight lifting, Natasha was the best with guns (Not that she was allowed to use one outside of her dad's supervision. Which she hated.) and (Surprisingly enough.) baseball. Clint could shoot an arrow through the pea size heart of Tony Stark without missing, and Steve could sprint faster than any of them.

"You should join the track team." Thor said one afternoon when they were hanging out at Clint's house, which was indeed bigger than Natasha's.

"No, I don't want to. I like running for fun, I don't think I'd do so well under pressure. You guys sure are. By the way, Nat? You never explained how you snuck your way into the boys' baseball team." Steve changed the subject.

"Oh, you don't want to know." Natasha chuckled. "In all seriousness, I don't know. I acted mature, hit the ball, and I didn't cry when Thor plowed into me and my arm broke. Guess they were impressed." Thor looked away when she finished this.

"You plowed into her and her arm broke?" Steve said. Clint laughed.

"I remember this. Nat was at the baseball tryouts and Thor was there. That was when his brother was trying out for the middle school sports team and the tryouts were the same time. He was there for uh, moral support?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yelling at him to quit whining and put his back into it was so supportive."

Thor gave her a glare. "I was trying my best, it isn't easy to be affectionate when Loki's being so typically difficult. Now let Clint finish the story."

"Well Loki didn't honestly want to be there, so he left halfway through. Thor started chasing him and right after Nat hit the ball he plowed her down right on her arm. Just snapped." Steve raised his eyebrows and turned to his girl friend.

"You didn't cry?"

"No she didn't, if I remember correctly, she cussed Thor out so badly it would make a sailor blush. In fact, Nat says he did. Then she stalked off the field and went to the hospital. That's how they met." Clint finished.

"Seriously?" Steve laughed. "You guys became friends after Thor made Nat break her arm?"

"Well I already knew Clint, we've known each other since third grade." Natasha said.

"I didn't blush." Thor stated.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

At school the next day, Loki decided he was going to talk to Natasha. She would certainly understand why he broke into the Starks' home.

"Hey Natasha."

"Loki? What do you want?" She turned and crossed her arms, looking annoyed.

"Everyone hates me even more now." He stated.

"Well duh, maybe the fact that you broke into Tony Stark's house would have something to do with that." Her tone softened a hint. "What were you thinking?"

"I was just trying to get something back." He protested quickly. "I may get into trouble frequently but I am no petty thief." His voice was returning to its normal and prideful state. How much of a superiority complex can a fourteen year old have?

"Why was something of yours at the Starks?" Nat asked.

"Because Tony stole it." He announced.

Nat laughed. "Right, Tony Stark, son of the richest man in New York, possibly the United States, stole...?" She waited for an answer.

"My... uh, cell phone. Blackberry actually." Loki said.

"You expect me to believe that? We aren't friends Loki, sorry you have to explain that to your massively large ego. You have no friends, and the only person to blame is yourself." She shook her head and walked off.

Loki was furious. She *laughed* at him. Laughed. He was telling the truth for once and Natasha LAUGHED. How could she?

He knew Stark was up to something. He knew it. Loki would figure it out and Natasha would apologize, then they would be together, obviously. His plan was foolproof. Once he could figure it out, that is.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

He pulled out the Blackberry Curve and fingered it carefully. He had gloves on, of course.

No one would know who was responsible. Once they unblocked the number they'd see *Loki's* name. Haha. Besides, it's not like it was the truth anyways. It can't hurt you if it's not true, that was his reasoning.

He input all the numbers into his program he'd installed. Everyone in the school would get this text, and no one in the school was like that. They'd probably react badly.

It's not like Tony was a mean person, he was just dead set on getting that stupid kid to the bottom of the hypothetical food chain. He could tell when someone was good material for being popular. Steve had the personality, buried under his awkwardness, he had the looks too. Especially his cerulean blue eyes- Wait, where the heck did that come from?

Tony typed the text fast and sent it. There. Done. Good-bye competition, and this little prank would get that annoying Loki kid back too, for annoying him. Haha.

Tony exited the boys bathroom and shoved the phone into Loki's locker. No one would ever suspect him. Even if they did, who would believe them?

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Clint and Natasha were walking home together to meet Thor and Steve at Thor's house so they could study for a science project. They were chatting when they both received the same text from a blocked number.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hey guys." Steve walked up the steps to Thor's house.

Thor looked nervous, Clint was staring into space, and Natasha was the first to speak.

"Hey Steve, we all sort of got this, uh, text." She handed him her cell phone and he read it quickly, then he looked at them.

"Are you... gay?"

A.N. Well, Tony's got his little pranky revenge. He's being quite a jerk isn't he? And so am I for leaving you on another cliffhanger. Hahaha!

Let's make up a hypothesis... What if hypothetically, I waited until I got five more hypothetical reviews until I hypothetically updated? Hmm?

Screw that, I'd be a jerk if I did that, I already have quite a few reviews. :D Believe me, I'm very grateful for all the alerts and favorites, but if you like it so much, do you possibly think you could write a review? I don't care if it's short, just a few words makes me happy. :) I hope you all liked the chapter. I think it's my longest yet.


	5. Of Plans and Punched Noses

A.N. TOTAL. HAPPINESS. Twenty-something reviews makes me so happy! :D That's more than any I've ever gotten. :) I'll keep the updates coming if you keep reviewing, how's that for a fair deal? :)

Chapter Five

"Thor!" Natasha hissed as soon as he asked.

"What? I spent the night at the guy's house!" Thor said looking partially scandalized.

"Well, uh..." Steve looked at the ground.

"Wait, you're not saying it's *true*?" Natasha looked surprised.

Steve looked positively mortified. He hopped on his bike and pedaled home.

"She didn't mean it was a bad thing!" Clint shouted after him. "Did you?"

"No! I was just surprised is all." Natasha defended.

"I slept at his house..." Thor had a strange look on his face.

"Shut up Thor, just 'cause he might be gay doesn't mean he's trying to get in everyone's pants." Natasha said, annoyed. Clint and Thor looked at her with expressions of surprise.

"What? No need to sugarcoat what you both were thinking. Boys." She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go try and talk to him. You too become accepting while I'm gone, okay?" She walked down the steps and left.

"I have a gay uncle!" Clint said as she walked away.

"Do you?" Thor looked at his friend.

"Yeah, he died a few years ago and I never really met him, but my mom says he was cool." Clint replied.

"Oh..." Thor got a thinking-look on his face. One you never wanted to see from the Odinson family because their minds were very... interesting.

"You don't think he has a crush on me do you?" Thor looked at Clint.

"Not really. No one gets crushes on you." Clint rolled his eyes and left his spot.

"Jane liked me!" Thor said and started pouting like a child on his front steps.

"Jane moved." Clint walked away, probably to go see Natasha and Steve.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha knocked hard on Steve's door. "Steve, open the da- Oh, uh, hi." She stopped her sentence quickly when Steve's uncle opened the door and looked at her with an odd expression on his face.

"Oh, you must be his girl friend. See the pause I put there, therefore not implying that you two are together in any way?" He said with a smile. Natasha tried to look around him.

"Is Steve available? I need to talk to him." She said quickly, ignoring his sentence.

"No, he ran in, grabbed his coat, and said he was going out. I thought he was with you guys." Steve's uncle looked rather worried for a split second, but then his smile returned. "It's a small town, I bet he's somewhere around here."

"Thanks." She turned and ran off before the man could say another word.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve wasn't going to cry. That would make him fit that stupid gay stereotype even more. Even if he probably just lost his only friends and his chance to ever make new ones. Why would he cry? A solitary tear snuck its way out of his eye and he wiped it away hastily, blaming it on the wind.

He continued walking and pulled his jacket tighter around him. 'Who found out and sent that stupid (insert language Steve would never say aloud) text to everyone?' was the main thought running through his brain. Who was it?

"Tony." He thought out loud but flung it aside like Natasha was when Thor broke her arm. That thought made him even more depressed. His friends. Ex-friends.

Oh look, the second time. This was the second time he'd run into Tony, this time they were both outside the library. But this time, Tony didn't say anything, he just got up and began to walk off, looking back with a smirk on his face. It was one of those 'I know something you don't know and that makes me 394 times better than you!' smirks. Steve knew what that meant. *He* sent that text. Tony Stark ruined his life with those stupid ten words.

"Hey, remember that new kid? Steve Rogers? He's gay." was all the text read. Those ten words were all he needed to hear in his head.

Tony was pleased internally, he didn't notice the hurt and positively depressing look in Steve's eyes. Mainly because he was trying to avoid them after his weird thought earlier. He'd corrected himself after, anyways. They were *stupid* cerulean blue eyes. Ha ha! He wasn't thinking straight earlier was all. But the next thing he knew, said owner of those blue eyes had flung a fist to his face.

Tony was flung backwards to the ground. He staggered towards Steve, cradling his now bleeding and pained nose

Steve looked hurt. Very, very hurt. He looked like he could cry. Tony all of the sudden got really uncomfortable. Why did he have a sinking feeling to why Steve was this way? It's not like it was true, it was just a stupid prank.

"You sent it, didn't you." Steve's voice was quiet and it cracked a little bit. He wouldn't

"Sent what?" Tony said between gritted teeth, resisting (For a reason he couldn't explain.) the strong urge to punch him back.

"That stupid text!" Steve said loudly, his voice broke and he began to stalk off.

"You mean the one about you being gay? It's not like it's true!" Tony scoffed but Steve stopped and almost looked back at him. Tony could've sworn he saw a tear fell to the sidewalk, but then he left.

Tony stood there for a moment. Why was he so hurt... Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no.

"Tony! What the heck? Are you okay?" It was Bruce. He had just exited the old library with a few books about the effects of gamma radiation.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just go to my house or something." Tony said quickly. 'I'm not the one that's not okay' was the only thing he could think about.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Seriously?" Before Steve could enter his house, he was bombarded at the end of the driveway by Clint and Natasha.

"What?" He avoided eye contact with either of them.

"We don't hate you, before you say anything else." Natasha said quickly.

"We understand and we know that it's uh..." Clint thought for a moment, and Natasha jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "It's not something you can help and we're okay with you being who you are." He finished.

"You... Totally scripted that." Steve said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

Clint grinned. "Yeah, my exact words were, 'it's cool man', but apparently that could mean anything." Natasha looked sheepish.

"Bur seriously, we don't mind. Why does it matter?" Natasha said supportively.

"Well, it's nice to know you guys accept. What about Thor?" Steve frowned slightly.

"Thor is right here, and he approves of your sexual orientation." Thor said boldly as he walked up to them.

Natasha chuckled. "Yeah, and you got after *me* for not sugarcoating."

"Wait, you seriously still want to be friends?" Steve looked surprised.

"Of course, we wouldn't lie." Thor answered.

"Okay. But please, can the fact that I'm gay remain between us? I don't want anyone else to know." Steve asked.

The three others exchanged glances, but they nodded all the same.

"Wait, who sent it? Do you know?" Clint asked.

"No, I don't care either. I still have friends, that's all that matters." He had a small smile on his face.

"Well, it's getting late, you probably need to eat and all that, so, see you tomorrow." Thor replied and he and the others left.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve and his uncle watched some old home videos whilst snacking on leftover pizza, that cheered him up a little bit and he went upstairs in a better mood than the afternoon.

He was upstairs cramming some last minute studying when he reflected on all the events of that day.

Everything was, uh, good? He knew people at school would be giving him looks.

Steve found his train of thought drifting to Tony. Tony...

He knew that Tony sent that text. He knew he could've told his friends and they would've let out who sent it, therefore making Tony hated for a few days, but he couldn't. He didn't know why. He had every reason to be angry, he had a reason to punch him, even if it wasn't right. But he regretted it. Oh, how he regretted that. He didn't know why. He couldn't figure out why. He didn't even have a good reason as to why.

Tony's head shot up from his hands. He had an idea as to why. But that was the last thing he wanted to think about. The absolute last thing.

Well, school would certainly be interesting tomorrow. It *certainly* would be.

A.N. Two chapters in one day. I know, I'm awesome. xD I couldn't resist.

Hey we're almost to THIRTY REVIEWS! :D My sister has no doubt that I'll have a hundred reviews by the end of this. (Which I don't know when that'll be. xD) Let's prove her right! Once we get to fifty, I'll write a fluffy little oneshot to go alongside the story. Probably friendship, but that depends. ;) Keep reviewing please, my amazing readers!


	6. Enter Stark Highs' Opinions on Gays

A.N. Oh. My. Gosh! Do you know how many reviews there are? Only twelve away from FIFTY. FIFTY! That's half of a hundred! I will totally freak out if I get to fifty. Even more so if I get to a hundred. :DDD

Your reviews keep the inspiration flowing, which keeps the updates coming, so please do continue my awesome, amazing, fantastic readers!

Chapter Six

Task list:

1- Wake up

2- Go to school

3- Survive the zombie apocalypse (Hypothetically speaking, of course.) also known as the 'Everyone turns on Steve and he gets beat up as many times as Kenny dies' apocalypse.

4- Convince my uncle to let us eat chocolate and soda for dinner because I had an awful day.

That was Steve's mental checklist as he woke up that morning. He was most looking forward to dinner. School could go screw itself. Steve wasn't freaked out at all. He had his friends. So he would laugh in the face of school/the mean homophobic idiots that go to his school.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

The laughing never happened.

He didn't really have a chance. The minute he arrived he could feel the eyes boring into his skull. It was quite horrifying actually. These people had obviously never seen a gay person. It bothered him immensely that they were staring at him like some sort or weirdo military experiment.

He just walked to his locker, but was bombarded by two girls on the way there.

"Great," Steve thought. "Here come the insults."

"Hi!" The girl with the short dark hair said enthusiastically.

"HIIII!" The other, a girl with shoulder length caramel hair greeted loudly.

"Hi. Excuse me, I don't want to attract anymore attention to myself." He tried to walk past them but they just followed him.

"I'm Becky! This is my BFFL, Mary Margaret." The girl with caramel hair, AKA Becky, smiled brightly.

"Okay, now I need to get to class." They wouldn't let him leave.

"Fine, scream the insults, I don't care, just hurry up." He stood there and waited.

"Uh, insults? You poor dear! We aren't homophones!" Mary Margaret said in a motherly voice.

"You mean homophobes?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's what she meant. Ooo, gay people are just people too! I don't know why people hate you!" Becky said with sadness dripping from her voice.

"I'm not really gay." He stated blatantly, and when their faces fell in shock he just walked off.

"Wha...?" They were both confused, but they walked off reluctantly.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Eeeew, Emma, do you see that gay guy?" Regina drawled to her 'best friend', Emma.

"Yaaaaah, Reginaaa." Emma replied in boredom.

"Wanna go make fun of him?" Regina asked.

"Suuuure." They both walked up to Tony and crossed their arms and scowled at him.

"Eeeeeeww, you're totally gay." Emma drawled.

"What? Oh, uh, no I'm not. You're thinking of Steve, the uh, blond guy over there." Tony said with confusion in his face, and gestured to where Steve was talking to his friends.

"No we're nooooot, we're talking about you." Regina said with boredom evident in her tone.

"But I'm not gay." Tony said, getting even more confused by the lack of complete certainty in his voice.

"Riight. Come onnnn, Regina." Emma rolled her eyes and sauntered away. Regina scoffed at Tony and followed her.

"I like GIRLS!" Tony said to them.

"Yah, maybe you're bi?" Emma turned and said before leaving the vicinity.

Tony didn't say anything. He didn't really know what to say. Was he... What? He left, feeling rather... Different. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve had (Against his will.) found himself in the cafeteria lunch line, still facing the judgemental glares.

He had just made it through with his lunch tray before some random guy had tripped him. Thankfully his face didn't land in his food, like he'd been expecting it to.

As he rose from the floor, Steve heard insults he'd never repeat uttered by that guy. He swung his fist but found it being held back by their AP English teacher, Maria Hill.

"He's not worth it." She told Steve, who stood there as the kid he didn't even know was given detention for that afternoon. Apparently, Stark High had a zero tolerance for bullying. "I'm not actually gay." Was what he said as the guy left.

Steve just went to the table where his friends, who had witnessed the whole scene in shock, were sitting.

"You okay?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, perfect." Steve replied.

"Hey, we should hang out at my house this afternoon." She changed the subject. "My dad bought us a Wii the other day, and I'd love the chance to play Mario Kart with anyone besides him. My mom refuses to play."

"Sure, I'm amazing at video games." Thor said proudly.

"Sounds cool." Steve agreed, happy to have his mind taken off of the gay rumor.

"I'm in, just make sure to have Poptarts to comfort Thor when he loses to this guy." Clint smirked and pointed to himself.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

That afternoon, they were all playing Mario Kart. Sure enough, Thor was losing, so he'd quit playing and was snacking on the limited edition pumpkin pie Poptarts that Nat's mom had bought.

All their heads shot up when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it. Natasha paused the game and went to the door.

"Um, hello?" Steve heard her say.

"Yes, is Steve Rogers here?" Oh no. It couldn't be... Why was this day getting worse?

"Yeah, who's asking?" Natasha said.

"You can tell him that it's," She paused and looked around Natasha, smiling when she saw Steve.

"His girlfriend."

A.N. EVIL CLIFFIE! :D I know, I know. But hey, if we can hit that fifty mark, you'll get a oneshot! I said fluffy, but now I'm thinking angsty. Haha, fluffy angst? ;) I'll try my best, but remember, it's all on you guys! Review, review, review. And thank you so much, I would probably never made it to this chapter without your amazing reviews! I got the idea of Loki and Natasha's conversation from Applecoral's review. So see how your reviews have an impact? :D

By the way, I'm watching Iron Man this afternoon, so if I do write that oneshot, it will likely be Tony-centric. xD

Do continue as long as you still like my story! Any ideas as to what to put next, ideas to who his 'girlfriend' is, anything like that. Put it all in your review! I read them all, even if I don't respond, which I might start doing. :))


	7. Hello Cruel World

A.N. Well, I decided I am going to start replying to reviews. So ask away, I'll answer! Oh, and I did write the oneshot to go along with this, somewhat. xD Go to my profile to read it if you want, :))

BunnyRabbitOfDOOM: Yeah, that makes me sad too. :( Or when great fics get barely any reviews... And then they quit writing because of that. x( I won't do that. :) (I did on my other story though... xP)

reader: Don't worry, it will. Haha. But being disliked by the student population will not be his punishment, no, it'll he much worse... MWAHAHA!Slyther-On-In-Sherlock: I have to say, I love your username. Haha. xD And yes, who is this mysterious girlfriend? You'll see in this chapter! :)

Lunatic's Lament: Yay! I'm so happy I made your day! :) Oh, and see how I've avoided your question, therefore not implying that you're right?

BurningInWater-DrowningInFire: OOO. Ideeea! Haha, told you that your reviews give me ideas. I might just have to do that. (Ooo, how about someone flirts with both of them! Haha!)

Chrissa St Patrick: Yes, yes he does. Or, *did*... Glad to know you like it so much! :D

Aggie12: Perhaps, perhaps not. ;) Her name was Peggy, by the way. :) I'm glad they made you laugh! They're actually from a role play of mine and my sister's. xD

Alexandra Petrova: Glad you like it! :D

Hono no Kage: Hope this helps clear everything up. x)

Amanda Carroll: He looked shocked because he thought no one but his uncle, parents, and old best friend, Bucky, knew. Just to clear that up. And no, she's not a stalker, haha, I totally should've done that! xD You'll see how she knew in this chapter.

Madlyinlove69: Because, dear reader, if I put cliffhangers, people will keep coming back to find out what happens. Haha, I'm so smart. I'm Tony Stark! (LOL, I rhymed and I'm not. :P)

Applecoral: Aw, I'm so honored that you feel honored! Hehe. :) Glad you're enjoying, hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

IForgotMyPasswordDerp AKA Lia: Ooo, I should totally do that now! ;) Glad you like my story! It makes me so happy that you do!

Le fabulous woman: I'm glad my updates make you happy and that you like my story! :D I try to keep up with all you amazing reviewers, so it depends on you how fast the updates come, but usually it's once a day. I hope I can keep that up. :)

TheSarcasticXD: Wow, that's so awful. :( Now I feel like beating up those jerks, but I'd fail. xP

And good retort to those jerks. They should shut up. :P Thanks for reading, and yeah, we totally should be friends! :)

Oh, and all of you, if you do see your ideas in here, do you want me to specifically give you credit? Cause I can do that if you want. :)

Chapter Seven

"Uh... Name?" Natasha looked back at Steve and mouthed 'I thought you were gay?'.

"Peggy Carter." She had a British accent. Thor noticed.

"You don't have a thing for Brits, do you?" He whispered to Steve who just hissed back, "No."

"Okay." Natasha reluctantly stepped aside and Peggy walked up to Steve and slapped him. Thor and Clint both shouted something to the effect of "HEY!" but they shut up after a look from Natasha.

"That's for leaving without saying goodbye." She frowned and then pulled him in and kissed him.

Steve's three friends watched, speechless. Thor opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, and then looked at Natasha like she knew something.

"Uh, what was that for?" Steve asked, having a Steve-is-thinking-please-leave-a-message expression on his face.

"Because I missed you." She gave him a small smile and hugged him.

"Uh, PDA mu- Ow!" Clint rubbed his side after Thor slapped him.

"Uh, guys, this is Peggy. She was my, uh, girlfriend back in Brooklyn." Steve introduced her quickly. "And these are my friends, Thor, Natasha, and Clint." He gestured to them all as he said their names.

"Pleasure to meet you." She said.

"Yeah, you too. Oh, look at the time, we better be cleaning up the video games and food and crap, don't worry, I'm sure you'll see Steve tomorrow at school, there is only one in town, ta ta!" Thor guided her to the door and shut it quickly, before turning to Steve.

"I thought you-"

"I know, I know, I'm gay. I didn't really like Peggy like that, but we'd been friends since kindergarten and I didn't want to break her heart or anything, so I never told her." Steve said guiltily.

"So why'd you get with her anyways?" Clint asked.

"That's the worst part. *I* asked *her*. I didn't, well, I kind of... Wanted to prove I wasn't gay." He muttered.

"Well, way to pull a Tony Stark." Natasha said. They looked at her. "He was a jerk? You know, Tony's a jerk? Oh never mind."

"Anyways, once I packed up and moved, I thought I wouldn't have to see her again, so I wouldn't have to tell her, you know what I mean?" Steve said, scratching his neck.

"You never said goodbye?" Natasha asked.

"No, not really. After the accident that killed my dad, I packed up and left. My mom died when I was younger, in a car accident." He finished. "I never went back to school, but they knew what happened."

"Wow." Clint whistled. "Nice move. So no one at that school knew you were gay?"

"No one except my best friend, Bucky. He knew. He also didn't care. I just didn't want to screw up my whole... I don't know. I guess I just didn't want anyone to know about it." Steve replied.

"Why's she here?" Natasha asked.

"As if I knew. Probably visiting. She's rich, plus her parents don't care. She's probably staying at that nice hotel down the street from the school." Steve shrugged. "I better get home, see you guys later." He looked flustered as he ran home.

"This has been an... Interesting day." Thor said, pondering over the events as he ate Natasha's last Pop-Tart.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The next day was even more interesting. Steve went to school and was faced with worse taunts than yesterday. Apparently, no texts saying that the whole thing was a joke made people believe it all the more. On the uh, well, it wasn't exactly the bright side, but whatever. On the other hand, Peggy was there, which kind of squished it a little bit.

Steve, feeling obligated after seeing she came all this way, invited Peggy to sit with him and his friends.

Thor appreciated that immensely, he was kind of still under the impression that Steve was going to get a crush on him. It didn't bother Steve all that much, Thor was pretty nice about it. As nice as possible, at least.

"Hey gay guy!" Steve had been walking with Peggy when he heard it. It could've been worse, but apparently not to Peggy.

"What'd you say?" She demanded. "Peggy..." Steve warned, fearing what was probably going to happen.

"He's gay, sweet-cheeks." It was the same kid from the lunch line the other day. Great.

Peggy walked up to him, her lips forming a thin line. The kid just chuckled. Peggy's fist met his face before he knew what hit him. He staggered back and walked off in embarrassement. Peggy just turned back to Steve.

"What did he mean by gay? Who started that?" Peggy said quickly.

"Nothing. It's just a rumor someone started with a blocked number. Everyone got it but me, and we don't know who sent it." Steve said, trying to make her let it go.

"Lies like that are awful," Peggy protested. "Hey, I'm pretty good with phones and stuff, I can try and find out who sent that text."

"Uh, sure. Go ahead." Steve almost wanted to stop her. He already knew it was Tony. But instead he just cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"So, how'd you know I was at Natasha's the other day?" Steve asked.

"Oh, I asked your uncle. I already knew where he was because he left a forwarding address on his Facebook page." She said.

"You're friends with my uncle on Facebook?" Steve frowned.

"He went on your account and friended everyone you knew, before you deleted it that is." Peggy explained.

"Oh, sorry about that." He said.

"By the way, how are you doing? With your dad being dead and all." Peggy said quietly.

"I'm okay. Dad and I weren't that close once Mom died anyways." Steve muttered.

"Right." The bell rang, school was out. "Okay, I'll see you later. I'm going to my hotel to work on finding that number."

"Good luck." Steve added as she left. He started walking to the doors and heard the two girls from yesterday talking.

"Oh, how about Steggy?" Mary Margaret suggested.

"Yeah, it's okay. I'll be a Stony fan forever anyways." Becky said happily.

"Stony?" MM inquired.

"Yeah, Steve and Tony!" Becky said happily and Mary Margaret giggled.

Steve caught that part of the conversation. Screw the weirdness of coupling real people together, him and *Tony*? What the heck?

He noticed with immense embarrassment that Tony had also overheard this. Tony looked at him quickly and left as quickly.

"Tony!" He rushed outside but didn't see him. He went back inside and ran into a darkened hallway and saw Tony walking away.

"I'm sorry! I swear, it wasn't me!" Steve said quickly.

"That's not the issue! I'm not *gay*!" Tony ground out.

"I know. They're just two stupid girls, I don't like you like that! I don't even like you at all!" Steve said, sounding more like he was convincing himself, rather than Tony.

"Yeah? Well I don't like you either!" Tony said.

"Good, we can agree on something." Neither of them realized how close they really were to each other.

"Yeah, the whole fact that I've been thinking of you for the past few days doesn't mean I like you at all." Tony responded.

"I've thought about you too." Steve found himself saying.

"Guess we can agree on more than one thing." Tony replied.

They both finally registered what the other had said, and stared at each other for a few seconds, both in disbelief.

Before either could respond, Tony grabbed Steve and kissed him fiercely.

"What the...?" Steve and Tony broke apart quickly and saw Natasha standing near them.

"Nat! Uh..." Steve opened his mouth and shut it just as fast.

"Yeah, you uh, might not want to say anything. She looks uh..." Tony studied her face for a few seconds. "She looks very surprised." He scratched his neck. They both looked at each other.

"You know, my uh, girlfriend's probably wondering where I am." Tony said quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, you probably should go." Steve agreed.

"Yeah." He stood there for a minute before striding off past Natasha, whose mouth was slightly open.

"Let's hope there are no flies in here." Steve said awkwardly.

Natasha closed her mouth. "But seriously, were you just kissing Tony Stark?"

"No, uh, he kissed me." Steve offered weakly.

"YOU KISSED HIM BACK!" Natasha said loudly, but after getting a few weird looks from passersby, she simply took Steve's arm and dragged him away.

"Ow." He winced when they were outside of the building and in the parking lot.

"What were you thinking?" She hissed as they began to walk home.

"I told you, he did it!" Steve threw up his hands.

"Wait, really?" Natasha did a double take.

"Yes." Steve said.

"So Tony Stark kissed *you*?" She raised an eyebrow. "This whole thing is weird."

"It didn't mean anything, we were having a really weird conversation and we were both confused and stuff." Steve protested.

"Do you like him?"

"Uh, what?" Steve asked.

"Do you have a crush on Tony? It sure looked like you were enjoying that kiss." Natasha remarked.

"Wha-Well, uh, we kissed for literally like five seconds." Steve avoided the question.

"Oh my... You do! You have a crush on Tony!" They were entering his neighborhood now.

"No! Well, I don't know. I kind of think I might." Steve said nervously.

"Oh, WOW." Natasha looked speechless.

"Please don't tell anyone. Please, Nat." Steve pleaded.

"Well, fine. But hey, you're riding for a fall if you're in any sort of a relationship with Tony Stark. I thought you hated him anyways." Natasha pointed out. "When'd that change?"

"Uh, a week or two ago?" Steve suggested.

"Wow. Okay. This is weird. Let's just go to your house." They continued walking in silence.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Bruuuuce!" Tony walked into his best friend's house and fell onto his couch,

Bruce sighed. He was used to his friend's random moments of... this.

"What is it, Tony?" He put down his reading glasses and walked over.

"I just kissed... someone. Not Pepper." Tony hesitated and rolled over into the cushion.

"Okay, who was it this time, Pepper's going to understand." Bruce said in reassurance.

"Feeth foffers." He spoke into the couch.

"Who?" Bruce asked.

Tony lifted his head from the cushion briefly.

"Steve Rogers." He said quickly and shoved his head as far into the couch as it could go.

"Wait, Steve Rogers?" Bruce confirmed. His best friend stayed silent, that was as good as yes.

"So, Steve Rogers. A guy." Bruce pondered aloud.

"Do you know where your parents keep the alcohol?" Tony sat up and muttered sarcastically.

"Wow. This is new, even for you." Bruce raised his eyebrows. "Oh well. Do you like him?"

"No. Yes. No. I don't know." He said in frustration.

"I thought you made up the gay rumor?"

"So did I! Maybe he's bi." Tony shrugged.

"Maybe you're bi." Bruce pointed out.

"Maybe." Tony sunk into the couch.

"I'll make you some of that chai tea you love so much." It was Pepper.

"Pepper!" Tony exclaimed with false enthusiasm.

"I didn't hear your conversation, I just can tell that you're in a bad mood." Pepper went into Bruce's kitchen.

"Oh, uh, thanks." Tony flung his face back into the couch. Should he tell Pepper? How would he tell Pepper? What was going to happen to Steve and him? Yeah, this so wasn't Tony Stark's day.

A.N. Hope you enjoyed! :) Reviews keep the fluffy plot bunnies hopping towards me. Teehee.

And hope you liked the non-descriptive-let's-leave-it-all-up-to-your-imagination kiss. xP


	8. Meet the Stark Family

A.N. Only thirty one more reviews until 100! ZOMG! You guys rock!

Chapter Eight

Steve was alone. His uncle was in NYC again. He was wondering exactly what he was going to say to Tony tomorrow.

Although, it was just a kiss, and who said it had to mean anything. Steve knew that better than anyone. His first kiss was with Peggy, and it meant... Well, to Peggy it had meant everything, to Steve it meant nothing. He pretended it did, but now he wished he didn't. Peggy acted like they were still together. Not that he'd ever officially broken up with her.

"Steve?" He heard the familiar British accent outside his window. He ran downstairs and opened the door.

"Thanks." Peggy said breathlessly as she rushed in.

"What's got you in such a hurry?" Steve closed the door and walked over to the kitchen table where she'd sat down.

"I found the number that sent that text." Peggy handed him a piece of paper.

"315-5654." Steve read. "Whose is it?"

"I hoped you'd recognize it." Peggy shrugged.

"No, I don't." Steve stared at it. "Thor's gone to the school the longest, at least out of my circle of friends, so maybe he'll recognize it."

"Okay, let's go." Peggy grabbed his jacket and tossed it to him, before going outside.

Steve slid into his jacket and followed her, sincerely hoping his suspicions of it being Tony were wrong.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hi Steve, hi Penny." Thor said as he opened his door.

"Peggy, actually. May we come in?" Peggy said.

"Um, sure." Thor opened the door. "Loki's upstairs doing his homework, and he's like an angry Bruce Banner when you're too loud, so we have to be quiet."

"I managed to trace the text to this number." She handed him the same slip of paper she'd handed Steve earlier.

"Do you recognize it?" Steve asked reluctantly.

"Yeah. It's my brother's." Thor muttered. "Are you sure this is the number?"

"Yes." Peggy confirmed.

"You guys should probably go." Thor looked positively furious.

"Thor, don't do anything stupid." Steve warned as Thor ushered them outside and slammed the door. Peggy turned to walk off and motioned for Steve to follow, and as they were leaving they heard Thor yelling and Loki yelling.

Steve winced. He still had a gut feeling that Tony had something to do with this whole thing. He didn't really want Loki getting yelled at because of something he might not have even done.

He quickly said goodbye to Peggy, nodding briefly at her suggestion of coming over later so they could hang out and have dinner, and went to go talk to Tony, the only way he'd maybe find out if Loki had really sent that text.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve started ascending the steps to Tony's house and rose his hand to the fancy knocker on the Stark's humongous mansion. He stopped. What if Tony hated him? Maybe he never wanted to see him again. Well, it's not like Steve was here to talk about the... Uh, incident. He knocked, a lot harder than he wanted to.

A man with black hair and a mustache answered the door. He stood for a moment and studied Steve before there was a look of recognition in his eyes.

"Steven Rogers! I haven't seen you since you were a little kid." He greeted.

"Steve is fine, sir. Did you know my parents?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, your mom's brother and I grew up together back in Brooklyn, I talked to her a few times. I heard what happened to your father, what a shame. It's nice that your uncle took you in like that." Tony's father continued. "Oh, like you'd remember my name. Howard Stark. You do know my son though, Tony." Howard said.

"I'm not going to ask how you know that." Steve muttered.

"Well, it could be my massive intellect or my large circle of friends that see everything in this town," Steve wondered if he knew about the incident between him and Tony. "Or it could be the fact that he's mentioned you on a few occasions."

Steve had to admit that a smile was forming. "Tony's mentioned me?"

"Yeah, mostly 'that annoying Rogers kid' or something to that effect." Howard rolled his eyes. "Tony's so difficult sometimes."

"Yeah, he is." The smile didn't leave, though Tony had only mentioned him like that, he considered it a compliment that he mentioned him at all.

"Howard? Who's at the door?" A tall curvy woman descended a staircase near the door and glanced at Steve.

"Just one of Tony's friends from school," Steve started to protest but Howard. "Do you remember the Rogers, Maria?" He addressed the woman who Steve assumed was his wife, named Maria.

"Of course!" She hurried towards the door. "You must be Steve." She greeted warmly.

"Oh, yeah. I'm not exactly Tony's friend, per se, I just wanted to ask him about something and if he's not here, I can just come back tomorrow, sorry to bother you." Steve began to leave.

"No dear, it's alright. Tony's at his friend Bruce's house, but I'm sure he'll be home soon. Why don't you stay and wait?" Maria offered.

"No, no, that's fine, really. I'll be alright." Steve declined.

"Nonsense, Maria's always jumping at the chance to have company, come on in." Howard opened the door further and ushered a reluctant Steve inside.

Maria lead Steve to the living room that was so fancy it looked like it belonged in a movie. She got a look on her face and left the room quickly, murmuring to herself.

Steve sat awkwardly. This whole thing was just weird. Wait till he told Natasha.

"Welcome to the Stark residence, Mister Rogers." He jumped at the voice that spoke to him out of nowhere. He looked and saw no one.

Maria reentered the room at that time and laughed at the bewildered look on Steve's face.

"That's just JARVIS, he's the computer AI that Tony's programming. He likes to be polite." Maria looked amused.

"JARVIS? Does that stand for something?" Steve asked.

"Just a Rather Very Intelligent System, if I remember correctly. Tony came up with that." She said fondly. "Howard's much too harsh on him, don't you think? He's very smart, but he is only a teenager."

"Uh, I'm just a kid, ma'am. I wouldn't know." Steve laughed to himself.

"Yes, yes of course," She waved her hand. "Would you like something to drink?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony was in a bad mood. Pepper had made him that chai tea, it was too cold. Bruce had to have them both leave early, and it started raining as he was walking home, lovely October day. Oh, and on top of all that, Pepper couldn't join them for dinner because her cousins were visiting. He'd thought about texting Steve about the kiss, but decided against it. So that was how he found himself walking up to his front porch, nearly freezing and dripping wet.

Tony opened the door slowly so his father wouldn't hear. He honestly didn't want to be asked about his homework like he was in middle school.

He heard his mom talking to someone in the living room, but the other person was too quiet to hear. He brushed it off as one of the neighbors he could care less about.

Tony heard the distinct footsteps of his father coming up from the basement, so he quickly ran upstairs to change out of his soaked clothes.

"Oh, I think that's Tony right now. Why don't you go upstairs and say hello?" Maria suggested.

"Yeah." Steve said simply.

"It's the third door in the first hallway to your right." She instructed, rose from the couch, and left.

"This place is freakin' huge." Steve rose his eyebrows as he wandered up the stairs and followed Mrs. Stark's instructions.

Tony had changed his jeans and was now digging through his massive closet trying to find his favorite Black Sabbath t-shirt. He didn't realize that there was someone standing in his doorway.

Steve couldn't see anything but Tony's legs as he was digging through the closet. He knocked on the door slightly and heard Tony mutter a curse under his breath as he hit his head on something. He backed out of the closet and faced Steve.

"Steve?" Tony had a towel in his hand and was drying off his hair, and he was shirtless. Shirtless and wet. Lovely combination, hmm?

"Uh, sorry... I, um, I got here earlier and your uh... You know, I think I'm just going to, uh, go back downstairs and we can talk after you're, um, dressed." Steve was blushing furiously and he looked very nervous.

"That's a good idea." Tony just stood there. "Hello?" He leaned closer to Steve and waved a hand in his face.

"I'm... going now." Steve caught himself staring and practically fled the room.

After he'd gone, Tony let out a small sigh and threw on his shirt, which he'd found right before Steve had knocked. He just hadn't put it on, mainly because after he realized it was Steve, he wanted to see his full reaction, which was just adorable. His stupid adorableness was what had caused Tony to kiss him earlier anyways. Was it even possible for a normal human to look adorable while yelling? No, but Steve Rogers wasn't exactly normal.

Tony left his train of thought and finished drying his hair before walking downstairs. He entered the living room and saw Steve sitting there, a red tint still present on his face.

"Hey, so why'd you come to see me again?" Tony said casually, though truly he wanted to leave the room, Steve, his stupid gay thoughts, and return to his bedroom.

"My girlfriend, Peggy, unblocked the phone number that sent that text." Steve fidgeted in his seat.

"Oh? Who was it?" Tony replied.

"Did you frame him for the text?" Steve asked bluntly.

"Who? No, I didn't frame anyone! How would I know you were gay anyways?" Tony scoffed.

"I never said I was actually gay." Steve muttered.

"Oh, well I'm not one to ask about that sort of thing. I'm pretty straight, so yeah. I didn't send that text." Tony wondered why he didn't just tell him. He might understand. Maybe. Or not. It was probably 'not'.

"Really?" Steve looked a bit more comfortable now. "Good. I've had this nagging suspicion that it was you since it happened, but you probably remember. Me, uh, punching you."

"No harm done. Anyways, it was nice talking to you." Tony said.

"Yeah, you too." Steve felt like they'd both just made an agreement to forget about the kiss.

"Oh, Tony, I've been meaning to ask you, is Pepper still joining us for dinner?" Maria asked as she came into the room.

"No, she had to cancel. Her cousins from Mississipi were visiting or something." Tony shrugged.

"Lovely. I have four spots reserved at that Italian restaurant you love so much." Mrs. Stark frowned, but glanced at Steve and her nearly ever-present smile returned. "Steve, your uncle's out of town, isn't he?"

Steve didn't like where this was going. "Yeah, he's in NYC on a business trip."

"So you'll probably eat leftovers for dinner, hmm?" She continued.

"Yeah, but I love leftovers." He responded, hoping she wasn't doing what he thought she was.

"Pfft, like I'd leave you sitting at home watching soap operas and eating Chinese while we have an empty spot to fill at dinner. You're coming with us." She beamed at him.

"No!" He and Tony both said in unison.

"Please Tony, don't be stubborn. We hardly see any of your friends besides Bruce and Pepper." Maria waved her hand in dismissal. Their pleas were falling on deaf ears.

"Mrs. Stark, that's way too nice, honestly, I'll be fine." Steve said quickly.

"I know, but Tony will probably draw blueprints on his napkin again if he doesn't have anyone to talk to." She said. "Now, the rain's stopped, so why don't you go home and put on something nice? It is a semi-formal restaurant. Then come back here and we can all drive over there." She finished.

"O-okay." Steve barely managed to get out before he found himself walking home with his head in his hands. "What did I do to deserve this?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"You did WHAT?" Steve has just changed into a nice pair of slacks and a shirt and was now talking to Natasha on his cell phone.

"I got myself invited to dinner with the Starks in a nice semi-formal Italian place." He winced.

"Okay, this day has officially broken three records. One, Tony Stark kissed a guy for the first time. Two, you went to the Starks and survived mostly intact, and three, you are the first person in the whole town to get yourself invited to a dinner with the Starks, usually they have to invite them over first." Natasha said.

"That's not even the best part. The only reason I'm going is because Pepper, Tony's *girlfriend*, couldn't come." Steve said.

"His mother invited you along to replace his girlfriend? You just set another record."

"What do I do?" Steve said hopelessly.

"Grab your stuff and head back to Brooklyn, or go to that dinner and face the Starks." Natasha suggested.

"So helpful." Steve glanced at his watch. "I gotta go, talk to you later."

"Have fun." Natasha said sarcastically.

Fun wouldn't be the word that Steve would use to describe dinner. More like 'awkward meets the dinner in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'.

He arrived at the Starks and was greeted by a happy looking Howard Stark and Tony who had a doomed-to-a-painful-death-please-kill-me-now look on his face. Maria Stark came down in a lovely red dress, and she led them all to a nice vintage car which Howard used to drive them to the restaurant.

They all were seated, and Steve, of course, was sat next to Tony. Yay.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony was playing with his silverware purely out of boredom. His parents had been talking to Steve for the past twenty minutes about random stuff. They'd gotten there food ten minutes ago, and Tony was already waiting for dessert.

He listened to what they were talking about for a split second. The military. Of course. Steve's dad was in the military and so was his. That gave them something to talk about. It sounded like Steve actually wanted to join the army. Tony couldn't help but feel a bit jealous as his father was praising Steve on nearly everything. Guess he's the trophy kid they always wanted.

He was also annoyed by the fact that Steve was barely paying any attention to him. He slid out his phone and started to text Bruce.

"I'm bored."

"I thought you were at that Italian place you love so much?"

"I am, but they're talking and ignoring me. :("

"Flirt."

"What'll that do?"

"Well I think it will gain you some attention."

Tony pondered that for a second. Then he glanced at Steve. Steve who had a tiny bit of tomato sauce right on the corner of his mouth.

"Steve you, uh, you got something on your..." Steve looked at him rather confused.

"Never mind." Tony leaned over and cleaned it off with his finger and wiped it on a napkin. He looked at Steve who was rather speechless.

"Um, thanks." He was blushing again. Not as bad as earlier, but still.

Tony just grinned and went back to fiddling with his silverware before texting again.

"LOL. Thanks man, that was funny."

"What'd you do?"

"I interrupted their 'interesting' convo about the army by brushing some tomato sauce off of the corner of his mouth. xD"

"He?"

"Yeah. Steve."

"I thought you were flirting with PEPPER!"

"Nope."

"... You do like him, don't you?"

Tony exited the conversation and went back to his fork.

"Howard, when the waitress comes back, we should order dessert." His mother announced, finally finishing her dinner.

"I like that idea." Steve said quietly, not looking anywhere near Tony.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hey Bruce whats Tony doing? He wont answer my texts" Bruce glanced at his phone and noticed he'd gotten a text from Pepper.

"I thought you were with your cousins."

"Yeah but its eight. Theyre asleep cause of jet lag and stuff. I thought Tony would be hanging around at home."

"He still went to dinner but yeah, he's probably home working on that project of his."

"Why wont he answer my texts then?"

"I don't know." Bruce sighed and tried to go back to studying. Was he the only one of his friends that actually *did* school?

"Bruce is he with another girl"

"No, Pepper. He doesn't have any other girl. Why would you think that?"

"Cause it would explain why he wont text me back. Maybe he feels guilty."

"If you're so worried, why don't you call him?"

"He wont answer!"

"Then talk to him tomorrow."

"Fine."

Bruce sighed again and texted Tony.

"Tony?"

"Hi Bruce. What's up? I thought you were studying and doing your homework and boring useless stuff like that."

Bruce rolled his eyes.

"It's not useless. Not all of us are born 'geniuses' like you. Pepper keeps texting you, she says you won't answer."

"Oh, yeah, I gotta go. I'm hanging with Steve."

Bruce stared at his phone for a brief second before sliding it across his desk. If Pepper knew... Oh Tony, seriously?

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha was perfecting her Mario Kart skills when she heard a knock on her door.

"I'll get it!" She walked over and opened it, and was faced with Peggy, who looked rather worried.

"Peggy, are you okay?" She closed the door and joined her outside.

"Yes, but I don't know where Steve is." She explained.

"Uh, home?" Natasha really didn't feel like explaining why her friend was eating dinner with Tony Stark or why he wasn't home yet, which she honestly didn't know.

"I tried there! I also tried his other friends' houses, but he wasn't there either." Peggy explained.

"Why were you looking anyways?" Natasha asked.

"We made plans for me to come over and eat dinner with him so we could catch up and all that." Peggy said.

Natasha did a mental face palm. Really, Steve? Really? "Truth is, he probably didn't realize that he couldn't make plans with you, because he already had plans."

"With whom?" Peggy persisted. "He told me himself that you three are his only friends."

"Not friends of his, friends of his uncle." Natasha thought quickly. "He's probably at their house. I don't think he'd want to be bothered."

"Who?" Peggy asked.

"He briefly mentioned the Starks. Now I have to go." Natasha went back inside and left Peggy alone with her thoughts.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. Oh. My. Gosh. I am so sorry for not finishing this yesterday! I was planning on writing it, but I ended up babysitting my little sisters most of the day, and at night I was pretty exhausted.

I'm not as happy as I could be with the dinner scene, but I couldn't exactly figure out what I wanted to change. xP So I hope the longness of it makes up for no update yesterday. :) I didn't answer questions this chapter, but I'll try to next time.

Enjoy and review/favorite/alert if you like it. :D


	9. Paper Airplane Wars and Plotting Girls

A.N. Afraid my inspiration deserted me at 3 AM, Sunday morning when I finished reading Civil War: Confession. WHAT THE HECK, Marvel? Talk about depressing... Anyways, here's the next chapter.

Hey, have you guys seen how many reviews you've given me? Wow! Wow, wow, wow. You are amazing, all of you. :)

Chapter Nine

Tony quickly shut his phone after his last text to Bruce and went back to what he was supposed to be doing. ALENRTS. What the heck was he supposed to do with that to make him beat Steve? Nothing. Or...

"Antlers." Tony had a smug grin on his face as he placed his letters. "The 's' adds to your 'o'," He nodded to his mother. "To make the word 'fools'. Plus the triple word score on the 's' and using all my letters is..." He did some quick math. "Ninty-six points. Take that, Steve, I'm beating you by thirty points."

"Yeah, whatever." Steve looked at his letters quickly and then took four of them out.

"Size. 'Z' put on the triple letter score makes a total of thirty-three points." He smiled. "A hundred and forty-five points. Give up now while you still have some of your pride intact." Steve joked.

"Not in a million years."

"Tony dear, it's getting late, perhaps you should walk Steve home. You both beat me and Howard by quite a bit, and that's our third game." Maria said rather tiredly.

"Mom, really? We're tied right now and I'm not letting Steve win without a fight." Tony stared intently at the Scrabble board, waiting for his father to move.

"Maria and I are finished, Tony. You and Steve can finish the game, but make sure he gets home before it's too late." Howard took his and Maria's letters and dumped them back into the letter bag before walking upstairs.

"Good night Steve, thank you for joining us." Maria said.

"Thanks for inviting me." Steve had just drawn new tiles and he was absorbed in sorting them. Tony was too. Maria just sighed and went upstairs.

"Now hurry up and lose." Steve grinned.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Three hours later, Maria decided to go downstairs and make sure Steve was home.

"Tony, are you still awake?" She asked as she walked downstairs.

"Yeah, Steve's gone." Tony said from the coffee table in their living room, where he was sitting and doing nothing.

"Alright. Now go to bed." Maria ordered.

"Okay." Tony sat quietly until his mother went back upstairs. "She's gone." Steve walked out of the kitchen.

"Why am I still here again?" He asked.

"Because I'll be bored without anyone to talk to." Tony stated.

"Right. My brain's pretty much fried, so no more Scrabble." Steve said.

"Why not? I'll easily beat you now." Tony shrugged.

"Exactly why I'm refusing to play. I'm enjoying my winning streak." Steve answered and sat next to Tony, settling nicely into the couch.

"I have an idea." Tony left to his basement and returned moments later with a big stack of paper.

"What's that for?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Start folding." Tony said with no more explanation, as he began folding numerous paper airplanes quickly.

"Uh, okay then." Steve started folding his own.

Fifteen minutes and sixty sheets of paper later, Steve and Tony both had armies of thirty one paper airplanes each.

"What exactly are we doing with these?" Steve asked, still looking rather amused.

"We're having a paper airplane war." Tony said with a serious look on his face.

"What is it?"

Tony had a look of mock-horror on his face. "Really Rogers, I can't *believe* that you've never had a paper airplane war."

"Are they that popular?" Steve asked.

"With me they are," Tony grinned. "I perfected the aerodynamics of my planes, and I always win."

"We'll see about that."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

An hour later, the battlefields had been cleaned and the winner announced. Much to Steve's dismay, it was Tony. Of course, Steve had demanded a rematch, but you could only throw so many pieces of paper before your wrists turned to useless gelatin.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Steve asked and poked a stray airplane that hadn't gotten thrown away.

"I invented that game, you know." Tony said thoughtfully.

"On the spot or a while ago?" Steve had actually expected that much.

"When I was little, my dad and I used to play it, before he got all annoying." Tony answered.

"Oh." Steve replied. "I guess we could just, you know, sit here." He suggested.

"Why not." Tony shrugged and sat next to him, ignoring the gay thoughts that were climbing back up from the crevice of his mind that he'd thrown them in.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

At precisely 9 AM on Saturday, October 17th, Peggy Carter could be found standing outside the Stark mansion and knocking on the door to no end. Her reason? Steve was there, or he was missing, and Steve Rogers was not stupid, therefore he was fine and at the Starks.

Peggy paced the porch before seeing the strawberry-blonde girl she'd seen talking to Tony Stark, probably his girlfriend, walk up to the door before turning to her.

"Aren't you Steve Rogers' old girlfriend, Peggy Carter?" The girl asked. "I'm Pepper Potts. This is my boyfriend's house. I'm curious as to why you're here." Pepper stated.

"Because this is where Steve is." Peggy answered.

"What?" Pepper furrowed her eyebrows before running around the side of the house and coming back with a key that she used to unlock the door.

"Do I want to ask?" Peggy muttered.

"No. Tony likes to lock himself out of his house, I've seen where he gets the key." Pepper opened the door quietly.

"Wait, what are we doing? This is creepy slash borderline stalker behavior." Peggy backed away.

"Believe me, Tony doesn't mind, I've asked. He lets me in whenever I want." Pepper reassured and entered the house.

"It's your fault if we get thrown out." Peggy said.

The two girls looked around the seemingly empty living room before hearing something from the couch.

Pepper motioned for them to be quiet and they walked to the couch and looked at it with surprise.

Tony and Steve were asleep on the couch, in a completely adorable way. They were *cuddling*. Steve's arms were around Tony's waist and his head was resting on Tony's shoulder. Tony was buried into the side of the couch, but he had an expression of contentment on his face.

"What the..." Peggy said with a look of shock and Pepper just looked hurt. Plain undisguised hurt.

"I don't believe him." She moved towards them but Peggy held her back.

"Don't." She looked hurt too.

"Tony isn't gay! Steve did this!" Pepper accused in a whisper-yell.

"Don't you dare blame Steve! He isn't even gay, we were dating back home!" Peggy hissed back.

"Fine, then what do we do?" Pepper asked.

"We'll just keep them away from each other," Peggy suggested. "If we can keep them interested in us, they won't end up like this again."

"Fine." Pepper agreed. "We should go before they wake up."

The two girls cast one last disdainful glance to the couple asleep on the couch before exiting the house, relocking the door, and putting the key away. They exited the premises and went their separate ways, planning how they'd regain the attention of their respective boyfriends.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Only about fifteen minutes later, Steve's cellphone rang. It broke both boys out of their peaceful sleep.

They awoke with a start and fell off of the couch onto the floor. Tony was now on top of Steve and their faces were inches apart.

The ringing continued, and they both got up and sat back on the couch.

"Uh, sorry about that." Steve said nervously.

"About what? The uh, cuddling or falling asleep on my couch?" Tony said.

"Both." Steve muttered.

"No harm done, it's fine." Tony shrugged, although he could actually feel his cheeks getting warm, which was more embarrassing than whatever was making them do that.

The ringing stopped, and next thing they knew, Maria and Howard were both coming down the stairs.

"Steve? Tony? What are you doing?" Maria asked.

"I was just hanging out down here and Steve came back because he left his cellphone here." Tony lied smoothly.

"Nice to know it wasn't a burglar." His father muttered. "I'm going to sleep in, thank you very much." He barely gave a glance to his son and returned upstairs.

"I'm going to get dressed." Maria stood for a moment and stared at the boys like she knew something before she returned to the master bedroom.

"You should uh, probably go." Tony said.

"Of course, um, thanks for having me over. So what, are we friends now?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess we are." Tony replied.

"Okay then." Steve grabbed his phone off of the coffee table and quickly slid on his navy blue Converse before unlocking the door. He looked ready to leave, but he walked back over to Tony and leaned closer. They both closed their eyes and...

"Tony, what do you want for breakfast?" Maria was standing on the staircase and watching them. Both boys swiveled to look at her.

Steve looked mortified. "Bye Tony." He rushed out the door

Tony looked around the room, but not at his mother. "Waffles?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve glanced at his cell phone's screen. "One missed call from Peggy Carter." It read. He flipped it open and dialed Natasha.

"Hey Nat, can you come over to my house in thirty minutes?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve changed into some new clothes and went downstairs to his living room. He sat there, thinking, until he heard a knock on the door.

"Nat, we need to-" He opened the door and was greeted by Peggy.

"Hi Steve." She said, smiling.

"Peggy, hey." He said back.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie or something." She offered. "My treat."

"Yeah, why don't we go this afternoon?" Steve said quickly.

"Wonderful!" She exclaimed. "I'll come get you at three thirty." Peggy looked happy as she left, but not before planting a short kiss on Steve's lips.

The lips that were supposed to kiss Tony earlier.

Steve shut the door and waited for Natasha, trying to clear his head.

Natasha barged into the house.

"How'd it go with the Starks last night and why couldn't Peggy find you at eight o'clock?" She asked breathlessly.

"Come in." Steve let her in and closed the door. "Want some water or something?" He offered, trying to prolong talking about last night.

"No, I want to know how your little 'date' went." Natasha persisted.

"It went pretty well. Dinner was good, I really hit it off with his parents. We went back to his house and played three games of Scrabble, two games of chess, and had a paper airplane war." He listed with a small smile on his face.

"A what war?"

"Tony invented it." He replied.

"Okay then. What else?" She continued.

"Uh, nothing." Steve looked out the window.

"Steve, seriously, you're a really *bad* liar." She stated.

"We uh, slept together-"

"YOU DID *WHAT*?" Natasha screeched.

"No! No, no, no, that's not what I meant! Actually fell asleep together on his couch." Steve added quickly.

"Oh, okay. You did *what*?" She repeated.

"And somewhere in the night we ended up cuddling..." He continued slowly.

Natasha had an unreadable expression on her face.

"And then this morning, right before I left, I tried to kiss him." Steve finished.

"Did it work?" Natasha rose an eyebrow.

"No, his uh, his mother interrupted." Steve replied.

"His *mother*? Wow. This is just... Wow." She sat silently for a few moments. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to eat breakfast and get ready for my date with Peggy this afternoon after I take a nap." Steve said tiredly.

"Need a hug?" Natasha offered.

"Yeah, I could use one."

Natasha wrapped her arms around him and held him tight before letting him go and patting him on the back. "Want an omelet?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Thanks Mom." Tony said as she put the plate of waffles in front of him on the table.

"Anything you want to tell me?" She asked gently.

"Nope." He said through a mouthful of waffle.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." She reprimanded.

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"I know that Steve didn't go home last night."

Tony choked a little bit. "Oh, right. Yeah, we stayed up and played a few games." He shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Did one of those games involve cuddling?"

"Okay, how did you know?" Tony said, giving up.

"Trust me, Tony, a mother knows these things. The cuddling part was a guess. Kissing would've been my first guess, but you being with Pepper and all made that less likely, cuddling usually just happens." She said.

"Whatever." He kept eating.

"He was going to kiss you." She said. "And you were going to kiss him too."

He chewed silently.

"I saw you flirting with him at dinner. Do you have a crush on him?" She continued.

"I- yeah. I do." Tony admitted.

"Well, it's fine that you do. No matter what anyone says, it's fine." Maria said in a motherly tone. She was mainly thinking of Howard right now, and she could almost see his reaction.

"Thanks Mom." He said, truly grateful.

"Besides, you two make a cute couple." She teased.

"Mom." He rolled his eyes.

"I won't interfere, I promise." She smiled at him.

"Well, I'm still with Pepper." His face fell somewhat.

"Who do you like more?" She asked.

"I don't know. I really don't." He went back to his waffles and Maria left the room.

His phone rang.

"Pepper, hi!" He said with forced enthusiasm.

"How do you feel about going to see a movie this afternoon?"

-/-/-/-/-

A.N. Late chapter, sorry about that. xP Hope you enjoyed the plentiful fluff though. :)

Hey, if I get some inspiration, I'll try and write another chapter as fast as I can. :D See how close we are to 100 reviews? You guys are just amazing. Reviews make me happy!


	10. Everyone Loves Letters to Juliet

A.N. Hello my faithful readers, if you're reading this, it means we've hit the 100 review mark.

SIEGWOHDISVOZVDJDV My reaction.

You guys are good, a lot of you guessed something that would happen in this chapter. Teehee. You all get a cookie delivered to you by Loki. Is that a good thing? You decide...

And here, without further ado, is the tenth chapter. (Which by the way, is farther then I've made it on any of my stories. (And I've written like 12.)

Chapter Ten

That afternoon, Peggy walked up to Steve's door and knocked exactly three times. She was contemplating her situation.

If Steve liked her, she might have to do what she came for, but now that she was here, she wasn't so sure that she wanted to.

If Steve truly did have feelings for Tony, (Which she highly doubted.) she figured it would make what she was planning a lot easier.

But now, standing outside Steve's house, waiting for him so they could go on a date, she felt so happy, and she didn't want anything to change it. Maybe she could get her parents to move the family out here. They worked at home anyways.

"Peggy, hey." Steve looked tired but he had a smile on his face as he joined her outside.

"Ready to go?" She replied.

"Yeah, let's go." They started walking to the theater and Peggy held his hand the whole way.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"JARVIS, is Pepper here yet?" Tony asked his computer AI as a test for hooking his systems up to the security cameras outside their house.

"Ms. Potts has just arrived and is near the front door."JARVIS responded.

"Thanks." He rushed upstairs and opened the door just before Pepper knocked.

"Tony! How'd you know I was here?" She asked.

"I hooked up JARVIS to the security cameras my dad has installed all around here." Tony pointed out a few of them.

"Security cameras? Are they in the house too?" Pepper asked, somewhat nervous that they might have records of her and Peggy's conversation.

"Yeah, everywhere in the house. My parents had them turned off a few years back, but I turned them on a few days ago." Tony explained. "Ready to go?"

"Yes." Pepper said and flashed a smile.

"Okay then." He went back inside.

"Mom, Pepper and I are going on a date. I'll be back eventually." He said as he ducked into the study where his mother was reading.

Maria looked up and removed her reading glasses. "Okay Tony. Be back before six, unless you decide to go out for dinner too." She added.

"Okay. And Mom? Thanks for accepting the whole crush on Steve thing." He added before ducking out.

Pepper had followed him in and heard that last bit, much to her regret. She saw him turning and acted like she just walked up.

"I'm leaving now." Tony said quickly and led her outside with a somewhat forced smile.

"Right." Pepper said, hoping she was the one he actually thought about whenever they kiss.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Two tickets for "Letters to Juliet" please." Peggy asked the clerk, happy that Steve said she could pick the movie.

"That your boyfriend?" The clerk (Who looked to be around eighteen.) asked as she handed Peggy the tickets and took her money.

"Yes he is." She smiled.

"Well, have fun." Peggy returned to Steve (Who had just bought them some popcorn and two sodas.) and handed him his ticket.

""Letters to Juliet"?" He groaned.

"You said I could pick. Now let's go get some good seats." Peggy hurried him out of the lobby.

-/-/-/-/

Pepper loved it when Tony let her choose the movie. Normally she'd choose an action movie or something else that she and Tony would both like, but today she was going to choose a nice chick flick. Hopefully it would be nice and romantic and Tony would feel kissing her.

"Two tickets to "Letters to Juliet"." Pepper asked the clerk at the ticket booth.

"Are you on a date too? Guess it must be the afternoon for chick flicks. Another couple of teenagers just bought some tickets too." She told Pepper as she handed her tickets and change.

"Really?" Pepper thought for a moment but brushed it off and joined Tony who was buying concessions.

"Two sodas, nachos-" "Make that two sodas and a large popcorn." Pepper interrupted.

"Pepper, I'm hungry, I want my nachos." Tony said in a whining tone.

"Yeah, and you always put onions and peppers on them, I don't want you having onion-cheese-pepper breath." Pepper made a face as she paid for their snacks.

"Whatever." Tony grumbled and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Wait for the movie!" She scolded lightly.

"Yes 'mother'." Tony said in-between bites.

-/-/-/-/

"Middle row." Tony said as they entered the room.

"Alright." Pepper walked into the middle row and almost winced aloud as she saw the guy she wished would disappear.

"Pepper, Tony, fancy seeing you here." Peggy said with the same look Pepper had on her face.

"Isn't it?" Pepper took the seat next to Peggy and motioned for Tony to sit next to her. Steve waved to Tony when he saw him.

"Why do I have the feeling that this isn't going to end well?" Peggy whispered to Pepper, who just nodded.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Nat, why exactly are you forcing me and Thor to go see "Letters to Juliet" with you?" Clint asked with a bored expression.

"Because I wanted to see it with you and Thor needs cheering up after that situation with Loki so I invited him too." Natasha explained.

"I'm fine." Thor said as we walked over, trying to balance three containers of nachos.

"Right, that's why you're stuffing yourself with processed cheese covered tortilla chips." Clint rose an eyebrow.

"Shut up." Thor muttered.

"Come on guys, the movie's starting." Natasha grabbed her gummy worms and Clint's chocolate covered peanuts and dragged them to the house were the movie was playing.

"I want to sit in the top row." Clint announced in a whisper and ran up to the top row.

"Why? Best view?" Thor had a small smile as he joked.

Clint threw a peanut at his head. "No, it just gives me plenty of target practice with my peanuts."

"Do you even eat any of those?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, I eat half of the box and throw half the box. Sometimes I find ones on the ground after I throw them and I eat those too." He grinned. Natasha and Thor just rolled their eyes.

-/-/-/-/

"I'll be right back Tony, I'm going to go to the bathroom." Pepper whispered before leaving, already around halfway through the movie.

Peggy didn't realize that Pepper had left, but she had to go the bathroom too, so she whispered to Steve and left quickly.

Tony moved to sit next to Steve since their girlfriends were gone.

"This movie is really bad." Tony whispered to him.

"That's the last time I let Peggy pick the movie." Steve muttered.

"Oh, they're gonna kiss." Tony announced.

"What, have you seen this before?" Steve asked.

"Why would I be suffering through it again? No, it's just a typical chick flick, they always kiss at times like this." He sat there for a moment and sure enough, they kissed.

"Told you." Tony said as he watched the scene, unimpressed.

"What?" Steve said, noticing his expression.

"They suck at kissing scenes. I'm fifteen and I can kiss better than them." He scoffed.

Steve stared at him for a few seconds before looking back at the movie. He was curious, very curious, to see how Tony kissed. They had kissed that once, but it was five seconds.

It wouldn't be his first long kiss, he had kissed Peggy five times, and it was disappointing. It's not like she was a bad kisser, she was probably quite good. She was gentle and caring. Sweet and kind. That's what kissing her was like, but Steve didn't want to kiss someone who kissed like that. He wanted someone who kissed passionately, not softly, and romantically. When he kissed Peggy, there were no sparks at all. He wondered what it would be like to actually kiss Tony, rather than an interrupted peck.

"I can." Tony repeated.

Steve said nothing.

"What, you doubt it?" Tony said.

Steve wasn't going to lie, but saying nothing was different than lying, wasn't it?

"Fine." Tony muttered.

Steve turned and looked at him. He probably shouldn't have done that, because next thing he knew, he was leaning in to kiss him. Steve realized what he was doing, and stopped. But that didn't matter, because Tony finished it.

Tony's soft lips met Steve's slightly chapped ones to initiate a slow, passionate kiss. Steve put his arms around Tony's neck, and Tony placed his hands on Steve's waist, ignoring the awkward position from the armrest separating the two. They continued moving their lips in perfect harmony before rising from their seats and moving so they were against the wall. The kiss deepened, intensified, and built up passion inside them both until he let out a low moan. They continued, their tongues now mingling in a passionate dance. Neither of them had ever experienced anything like this before. The bliss was overwhelming. They were so caught up in each other, and nothing mattered anymore. They both wished for the moment to last forever.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha, though she was the definition of tomboy, always loved a good chick flick. They made her all smiley and weird, but she liked it. She was very absorbed in the movie when she was interrupted by a shocked whisper from Clint.

"Is that Steve?" He rose from the seat and glanced at the couple furiously kissing by the wall.

"Is he *snogging* Tony Stark?" Thor was out of his seat too. They both turned to Natasha for her opinion.

"Sorry Steve, I don't think I can help you out here." She thought to herself. "It looks like them." She answered plainly, nearly as surprised as the other two were.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Pepper exited the bathroom stall and hummed to herself, reapplying her lip gloss and washing her hands. She had just put in a breath mint when Peggy exited another stall and began washing her hands.

"I hope they reach the kissing soon, I'm hoping Tony will kiss me." Pepper said, smiling.

"We better head back, we just missed the most romantic part, I've seen the movie before." Peggy replied, glancing at her watch.

"Wait, if you're here, and I'm here, who's separating Steve and Tony?" Pepper asked. The two girls exchanged glances and rushed back to the movie, only to find that Steve and Tony were gone.

Pepper bit her lip. Peggy sat back in her seat and Pepper did too.

Their boyfriends, whom they found cuddling that morning, had now disappeared after the most romantic part. Not a good combination. At all.

-/-/-/

A.N. Okay, I hope I didn't totally 'epic-face-palm-that-totally-sucked' that kiss. It was kind of your reward for getting to 100 reviews. Please forgive me if it sucks. Alright? Yeah? We're good?

Review, constructive criticsm is appreciated just as much as 'ZOMG I LUV THIS' reviews are. :)

... Okay. I am SO FREAKIN' AFRAID that I bombed the kiss. I might enlist my awesome sister to rewrite it. xP


	11. The End Of a Relationship

A.N. So I isn't completely bomb the kiss? Yay! :) 111 reviews, most I've ever gotten. EVER. Totally epic.

Now, here's the eleventh chapter.

Also, erratic updates: whenever they happen it's usually because my iPod needs to charge, and since I don't have a laptop, and the wall charger is broken, so I have to charge it downstairs, and writing this around my parents, (Which is what I'm doing now...) is just... No.

Chapter 11

Steve and Tony had kissed for almost five minutes. Until they were interrupted by a peanut thrown at Tony's head.

"Clint!" Natasha hissed, sinking down into her seat so Steve wouldn't see her.

"What?" He shrugged and turned in their direction. "Get a room!" He shouted at them.

"You do realize that's Steve. Our friend." Thor stated dryly.

"So? They still need to get a room." Clint sat down with a satisfied look on his face as Steve quickly left the room with Tony following close behind.

"Okay, may I repeat this again. Was he snogging TONY STARK?" Thor looked quite disturbed.

"It could've been you." Clint smirked. That shut Thor up.

Natasha was still rather surprised. "Tony likes Steve too? Wow. Just... Oh look, Pepper and Peggy. This ought to be interesting." She thought to herself.

"So they were on a double date, and then their girlfriends leave the room, so they decide to snog each other senseless." Thor nodded slowly. "That was definitely Tony's idea."

Clint absentmindedly threw a peanut in the girls' direction. It hit Pepper on the head.

"Score!" He did a victorious fist pump and went back to watching the movie.

"I'm going to go talk to them." Pepper said, thankful that they were the only ones in the theater, considering how this theater only replayed old movies based on demand.

"Hi guys." She sat next to them.

"Where's Steve?" "Where's Tony?" They said at the same time.

"I don't know and I don't know." Natasha responded quickly. "They both left, it was dark, and I don't really know much else, it was dark."

Both girls' faces fell even more than they had before.

"They left together?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, it looked like it." Natasha replied.

"Peggy, I'm going to go find Tony. Hope you and Steve are still together." Pepper left quickly.

"I was hoping it wasn't true." Peggy sank into her seat.

"What?"

"The 'gay' rumor." Peggy replied sadly.

"Oh. That." Natasha debated telling. She did promise Steve that she wouldn't.

"It's true, isn't it. Don't bother answering, I'm not angry. I can... I can understand. The original reason I came here was to check up on him and, well, and break up with him." Peggy said softly.

"Really?" Natasha wondered how she always ended up being the one people talked to for comfort.

"Yes. But when I arrived and saw him, I just... I couldn't. I think I love him." Peggy replied.

"Wow." Natasha cringed a little in her head, she used that word too much.

"Yes. So I guess it's for the best anyways. Long distance relationships aren't my strong point, and we are just teenagers." She answered. "I better go, thanks for listening." Peggy left.

"Okay then." Natasha turned just in time to catch a peanut that Clint had thrown at her head.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony walked into his house, humming some song Pepper liked to play on her iPod all the time. "Running on Sunshine" or something like that. It didn't matter, that's how he felt right now.

He walked to the study to see if Maria was there. She wasn't. It was five thirty, and his parents were probably on a date or something.

Only a few minutes after he settled on the couch with a soda, dwelling in his thoughts, there was a knock on the door. He had to admit, a part of his mind was dead set on telling him that it was Steve, but he figured it was Bruce.

"Hi." Was all he said as he was greeted with the face of his angry looking girlfriend.

Instead of responding, Pepper literally crashed her lips onto his and began forcefully kissing him before he shoved her off.

"Pepper! What the-" He was cut off by a slap to the face.

"I don't believe you." She said.

"What did I do?" Tony asked, rubbing his cheek.

"You're cheating on me with Steve Rogers! Couldn't you have the decency to break up with me first?" She had angry tears forming in her eyes.

"Pepper, I'm sorry." Tony said, actual remorse in his voice.

"I would hope so. We're through." She stormed off, crying.

Tony closed the door and went back to his seat, speechless. He picked up his phone and texted Steve.

"Just broke up with Pepper. Well, she dumped me..."

"I'm sorry."

"I guess I kind of deserved it."

"Not really."

"Anything new with you?" Tony changes the subject.

"Not really. Oops, gotta go, someone's at the door. TTYL."

Steve flipped his phone shut and went downstairs to the door.

"Hey guys." He said to his two guy friends. Thor was holding a tray of nachos. From the movie theater. This did not look good. "What's up?" Steve said, getting a bit nervous.

"Nothing with us, but we know something's up with *you*." Said Thor, attempting to be intimidating or something, but failing because of the humorous way he was eating his nachos.

"Mind if we come in?" Clint asked.

"Sure." Steve let them in.

"So, a little birdie says you've got a crush on a certain someone." Thor said, eyeing him dramatically.

"You caught me. I love you." Steve said seriously.

"WHAT?" Thor spewed out some of his nachos on the floor.

"Clean that up, he was joking." Clint said with a laugh at his friend's embarrassment.

"Yeah Thor, I was joking." Steve laughed.

"Shut up." Thor went to the kitchen, grabbed a paper towel, and cleaned up the mess he made on the floor.

"But seriously, we're your friends, you can tell us." Clint said.

"Well, I know, but uh... Hey, did you guys go see a movie? Those nachos are from the theater." Steve asked, trying to make them forget the subject they were on.

"We did. "Letters to Juliet"." Thor said and Clint elbowed him.

""Letters to Juliet". Heard it was a good movie, didn't think you guys would ever see a chick flick." Steve joked with a sinking feeling.

"Nat dragged us there. It was pretty empty, the top row is always the best place to sit." Thor said.

"Fine, you saw me, uh, kissing someone." Steve hoped they didn't get a good look.

"Tony Stark." Clint added.

Steve sat there for a minute. "I have feelings for Tony Stark." He blurted out.

They stared, Thor's chewing the only noise in the room.

"Wow. Nacho?" Thor offered.

"Sure." Steve took one and ate it, all three of them sitting in silence.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony was bored. No other way to describe it. He was just… bored. He wanted to text Steve, but he didn't know what to say. He wanted to text Bruce, but he asked Tony to stop texting him past six at night because he studied after that.

Where were his parents? They were taking much too long. Tony Stark never worried. Least of all for his parents. They were adults, smart adults, and there was no reason for worrying.

He turned on the TV that sat above the fireplace in his living room and started flipping through channels until he decided on the local news.

"Only an hour ago there was a hit and run at the intersection of 4th and Shield. The victims of the crash are the billionaire, Howard Stark and his wife Maria. The mayor is uninjured, but his wife is currently in the hospital. We have not been informed of the severity of her injuries. The stranger who hit them was driving a white Honda Civic-" Tony shot up in his seat and ran to the door, grabbing his coat and running as fast as he could to the hospital, located five blocks from his house.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony reached the hospital and breathlessly looked for his father amidst the doctors and nurses rushing about.

He spotted his father pacing a hallway and dashed to him.

"Dad! Is Mom okay?" Tony asked quickly.

"She's in surgery. The car hit her window and she has numerous critical injuries." Howard replied in a flat voice.

Tony sank down the wall. This wasn't happening. His mother wasn't in that room. She couldn't be. This was the woman who had always been there for him, the only one who had always supported him. She never doubted him. She loved him. She might very well be *dying*. Tony couldn't handle it. He couldn't. He fled the hospital and ran to the first place he thought of.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/\-/\-/\-/\

"Well," Steve thought as he sat down with a late dinner. "This day could've gone a lot worse." Clint and Thor's reaction hadn't been that bad. They were shocked and they both couldn't see what he saw in Tony, but they accepted it. They left soon after.

Steve hadn't taken a single bite of his macaroni and cheese before there was another person knocking on his door.

The minute he opened the door, he was shocked. Tony was there and he looked downright awful.

"Tony, are you alright?" Steve asked with concern.

"Not exactly." Tony looked worried. Tony Stark was actually worried. Something horrible happened.

"What happened?" Steve asked, leading him to the living room where he sat down.

"Do you watch the news?" Tony replied.

"No, why?"

"My parents. They were in a car crash." Tony said slowly. "My mom's in the hospital."

"Is she okay?" Steve really wished he could be more comforting than he was right now.

"She's in surgery with... numerous critical injuries." Tony answered, his voice breaking.

"Tony, I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?" Steve sat next to him.

"You could shut up with all the stupid questions." Tony muttered.

Steve, not knowing what else to do, simply wrapped his arms around Tony and held him close as he started sobbing. The two stayed that way for quite some time, before they fell asleep.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha was trying to sleep. It was cold. She didn't like the cold. And the thermostat was being stupid so the heat was coming in erratic intervals. She hated fall and winter.

Because of the nasty weather, she assumed it was only the wind when she heard something hit against the downstairs window. That didn't last. Moments after, she heard what sounded like footsteps.

Creeper/Rapist/Burglar/Whoever it was, Natasha didn't like it. She (Being her typical teenage self.) decided to check it out without waking up her parents. This amazing/butt-kicking red-head could take care of herself, thank you very much.

Natasha snuck down the staircase and spotted someone lurking about in the kitchen. She walked closer but the figure turned and saw her.

"Loki?"

-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. I can't believe I did that to Tony. xP Wow, I'm awful. I can't believe myself... Anyways, it's nice to know that all of you awesome readers (Awesome. I use that word too much.) are still enjoying my story. I think this may be the first actual piece of good fanfiction that I've finished. :D

And crap, I wish I could draw, I'm getting all these ideas. x)


	12. Pepper Plans a Party & Bruce meets Nat

A.N. ThatGuyWithTheFace: Truth is, I probably do enjoy them too much. I know I love writing them. xP

Oh, and just for future reference, the only people that know about Loki 'sending' the text are Peggy, Steve, and Thor. (Well, Loki too.)

I'm sorry about the late update. I felt so blech earlier today, mainly because I spent all of yesterday riding amusement park rides in the middle of a very sunny day and I was awake from 8 AM to 11 PM or something like that. Kind of like a hangover or something, I don't know. Whatever.

Random rambling from the author aside, here's the next chapter.

P.S. There are almost 100 people with this story on their alerts, how amazing is? :D

Chapter Twelve

"Please don't freak out. I did not send that text." Loki whispered quickly.

"What text?" Natasha was confused and tired. Plus she was still cold.

"They didn't... tell you?" Loki was surprised.

"Who didn't tell me what?" Natasha demanded.

"Ah, they'll tell you if they want you to know." Loki responded.

"Fine, don't tell me. But why the heck did you *break* into my house in the middle of the night?" Natasha questioned, realizing how creepy that it really was.

"My parents said I need to stop trying to ruin my brother's and his friends' lives, after I supposedly sent that text about Steve. They want to send me back to England. To a boarding school." Loki looked at Natasha for her reaction.

"Oh. Well, you deserve it. You broke into the Starks' house and- Wait, wait, hold on. Did you say the text about *Steve*? You're the one who told the whole school he was gay?" Natasha was downright scary when she was angry.

"No, I swear to you I didn't send that text. Remember when I said that the reason I broke into the Starks' home was to get my phone back? Well, there you have it. Tony must've sent the text." Loki looked rather proud of his deductive reasoning.

"Yeah right, like you aren't making that up." She scoffed.

"I'm telling the truth," Loki said softly. "I would never do anything to hurt you or one of your friends."

Natasha knew that if Loki didn't send the text, it was because of the crush he had on her. He'd followed her around (almost like a little lost puppy) when they were in middle school together. He stopped that a few months later, probably due to his ever-growing pride. He liked her even before she and Thor were friends. Once they knew each other and she hung out at their house ever so often, Loki would always try to impress her. He was such a weird fourteen year old. Whether it was because of his weirdness/unusual mature-ish behavior, or his (Kind of sweet.) crush on her, she believed him.

"I believe you."

"I- You what?" Loki glanced at her.

"Yeah, I believe you. You don't deserve to get stuck in boarding school despite your other problems. Happy?" Natasha could practically feel joy (Or as joyful as Loki could get.) emanating from where he stood.

"Yes. Yes, that's wonderful." She wished that she could turn on the lights and get a better look at his face, she'd never seen him smile before, and she figured he was probably over the moon right now.

"Okay, exactly what does all of this have to do with me?" Natasha asked.

"Oh, right. You know, I don't have any friends." Loki said.

"Yeah, I wonder why."

"You're about the closest thing I have to a friend," Natasha wondered exactly what that was. "Next to Thor, and he pretty much hates me right now."

"And?" Natasha motioned for him to continue.

"I need someplace to stay. Until my parents get over the whole boarding school thing. I mean, this has happened before, but they're serious this time." Loki explained.

"Okay, you're running away, and you want me to let you stay here, in my house." Natasha repeated.

"Not really running away, I just can't really go home." Loki stated.

"What about school?" She asked.

"I'm still going to school. But if my parents catch me at home again, they'll chew me out and spit me out of our house for good. They're usually so forgiving, I suppose they think I crossed the line. Even though I didn't." He said.

Natasha debated for a minute. Let Loki stay, or throw him to the street and leave him to the cruel world at only fourteen. He *was* Thor's brother. Natasha decided that was the absolute only reason she was saying what she was about to say.

"Fine, as a favor to Thor." She muttered. "We have a spare room in the basement that nobody ever uses." She led him to it.

"Thank you, Natasha." Loki said to her as she flipped on the light.

"No problem, I suppose." She muttered back.

He put down his backpack and laid on the twin size bed.

"Good night." He replied.

"Oh, yeah, good night," Natasha turned to leave, but found herself speaking again. "Hey, Loki? You can call me Nat."

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony awoke the next day with a splitting headache. He felt awful, and then he remembered why.

Mother. Hospital. Surgery. Critical injuries.

He remembered coming to Steve's house and he had cried. Tony truly *hated* crying in front of others. It was rather embarrassing. He didn't feel that embarrassed by crying in front of Steve, which was weird. He felt weird and sad and angry and just crappy. What a great way to wake up.

"Oh, you're awake." Tony turned and saw Steve walking down the stairs.

"Yeah. Thanks for letting me stay over." He said quietly.

"No problem." Steve shrugged.

"Sorry about the crying."

"You're as human as anyone else, we all cry. Especially us hormonal teenagers." Steve brushed it aside.

"My dad." Tony mentally kicked himself.

"What about him?"

"He's going to be wondering where I am. Great. I gotta go." Tony groaned and put on his shoes.

"Alright then." Steve looked a bit disappointed that he was leaving.

"Sorry to run. Thanks again, Steve." Tony ran out.

Steve sat there, alone. He wondered what he and Tony were. Tony said that they were friends. Friends don't usually make out in movie theaters. Do friends act like he and Tony did when they were around each other? Steve didn't know. The whole thing was complicated. What about Peggy?

A confused and bored Steve went upstairs and flipped open his laptop. He went to Facebook. He opened up a new account and searched for his friends. Thor was there, so was everyone else. Plus Tony.

He sent friend requests to all his friends, including Tony. Then he went to his profile and changed his relationship status. "It's complicated."

That was the whole reason he made a Facebook again anyway. He didn't know what he was doing relationship wise, so he simply distracted himself. Besides, it really was quite complicated.

-/-/-/-/-/

"Where were you?" Tony heard his dad say the minute he walked into the house.

"I didn't know what time you were going to be home, so I spent the night at a friend's." He explained. When his dad stayed silent, he spoke up again.

"How's Mom?"

"Your mother is not doing well." Tony looked at his father's face. He'd been crying. Tony knew for a fact that Howard Stark *never* cried unless something horrible happened. That's what his mother said. To be completely honest, Tony had never seen his father cry. It was disconcerting, very much so.

"She'll be alright, Dad." Was all Tony said when he walked to his room, trying to convince himself more than his father.

As he checked his email, He realized Steve had made a Facebook. And sent him a friend request.

He clicked 'Accept' before changing his relationship status to 'It's complicated". That certainly was the truth.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Pepper woke up with that gross taste of morning in her mouth. She brushed her teeth, changed her clothes, fixed her hair, put on her makeup, and went downstairs to eat breakfast. The whole point of her doing her entire morning routine on a Sunday was to prove to herself that the breakup with Tony was not going to affect her. Nope, not at all.

Her mother put a plate of pancakes in front of Pepper's face. "So, honey, when do you think we can invite Tony over again? He's such a lovely young man." Yeah, she did still need to tell her parents.

"Darling, did you hear what happened to his mother? Horrible tragedy. I do hope she'll recover." Pepper's father remarked.

"What tragedy?" Pepper questioned with wide eyes.

"His parents were in a car crash last night. Didn't he tell you?" Her mother said with mild confusion.

"He's not telling me much these days." Pepper said sadly.

-/-/-/-/-/

"Tony, I'm going to go visit your mother, don't kill yourself while I'm gone." Howard said to his son as he left the house.

"Sorry to disappoint." Tony muttered.

"Pepper's at the door." His father left but let Pepper in.

"Tony, I heard what happened." Pepper said quietly. "I am so sorry."

"Pepper, in case you don't remember, you dumped me." Tony remarked in a flat tone.

"Well, I know," She hesitated. "Hey, I'll do something to help you forget about it. Cheer you up a little. How's that sound?" She said, attempting to cheer him up.

"Sounds great." Tony said, not excited or amused.

"Just because we're not together doesn't mean I can't be your friend." Pepper said.

"Yeah."

"Ohmigosh, I'll throw you a party! And instead of presents, the guests can bring money to donate to the hospital. What do you think?" Pepper suggested hopefully.

Tony brightened up a little at the donation suggestion. "Actually, Pepper, I do like that idea. To ahead and plan it."

"Great." She practically bounded out the door. "We'll have such fun, and don't worry, I'm sure your mom will get all better."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Bruce was having a typical Sunday afternoon. He'd eaten lunch, texted Tony with condolences about his mother's current condition, and then walked to the library and sat down with a good book. Tony called him a nerd. Bruce preferred the term, 'studious and charming'. Tony invented the charming part, but Bruce let it stay because it sounded nice.

So naturally, he wasn't expecting anyone to come up and talk to him, especially not a *girl* from school.

"Aren't you Tony's best friend?" The girl with short, curly red hair and a black leather jacket remarked as she walked up to him.

"More like only, but whatever goes." He replied in his typical calm voice.

"I'm Natasha, a friend of Steve's." She sat down next to him.

"I don't suppose that you're aware of the current situation between those two?" Bruce asked, turning the page of his book.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone else knew about that." Natasha remarked.

"I know plenty about everyone in the school." Bruce muttered. "They're not exactly 'quiet' about their personal lives, and I spend most of my time listening anyways. Tony's a different story, but still."

"Do you ever feel like you're supposed to be the person there for everyone else, but when you actually need some comforting, no one's around for you?" Natasha asked suddenly.

"Yeah, quite often. Tony's a good friend but he's an awful listener." Bruce replied.

"Like this morning at like, twelve AM, I was greeted by Loki breaking into my house. He needed some place to stay, so I let him stay in my basement as long as he kept quiet. I was kind of weirded out and needed someone to talk to, but when I texted my friends, none of them could talk." She said before taking a breath.

"Yeah. A while ago, I had a crush on a... certain person, and though I'm always there for Tony when he needs me, it seems like he couldn't take five minutes from his day to listen to a friend and offer advice." Bruce said quietly.

"Well, guess we both know how each other feels." Natasha said.

"I guess we do." Bruce agreed.

"Wanna hang out and listen to each other's problems?"

"Sure, why not."

-/-/

A.N. Not as long as I wish it would've been, sorry about that. I've been in a really weird mood all day and I could really get into my writing. My sister kept reminding me and eventually this flowed along. Hope you enjoyed! Oh, and if any word really doesn't belong there, blame my iPod touch. I write all this on it and sometimes Autocorrect hates me. xP

And if you do leave a review, would you mind telling me who you'd like to see more of in my story? I'd really appreciate it, since I enjoy writing all of them. :)


	13. Costume Shopping

A.N. So, I guess the updates every day thing isn't working so well. Meep. Sorry about that.

A while ago, I was debating. Look online for 'proof' that Steve/Tony truly is canon, or do some math. Hmm. I chose Steve/Tony. Haha, goes to show you that I'm more devoted to this lovely pairing than improving my intellect! Isn't that great?

My rambling can end now.

Here is chapter thirteen.

And as always, your reviews are almost always the highlight of my day!

Oh, and Loki escaped from the cookie delivery company, so if you haven't received your cookies, that is why. Thank you for your patience.

Chapter Thirteen

Sunday night, Steve was even more confused than he'd been that afternoon. Tony's relationship status on Facebook was 'It's complicated'. How was it complicated? Pepper dumped him, that's not complicated. Steve wondered if he meant his and Steve's relationship. That would be so perfect, if he actually wanted to date him. Steve had never dated anyone before. Dating would be so amazing and awesome and perfect and it would be with *Tony*.

Oh yeah, he forgot about Peggy.

He decided to start chatting with Tony on Facebook.

"I saw your relationship status, it's complicated. How is Pepper breaking up with you complicated?" He typed quickly.

"We aren't totally over, I guess." was Tony's reply.

"Oh. What about us?" Steve was a little disappointed.

"Us? Oh yeah. Um, idk." Tony answered.

"Do you want to date?"

Tony read that and pondered it carefully. Truth was, he actually did. He really liked Steve and he could use a distraction from his mom. But if the school- or his DAD- knew? He could kiss his reputation good-bye forever.

Who said they had to know?

"Yeah, I would. Could we kinda keep it a secret from everyone?" He decided on.

"Okay, that's fine."

"So are we together or something? I guess Pepper and I really are done."

"If you still like her then we don't have to date or anything."

"No, I don't like her like that anymore. I haven't for a while." Tony sent.

"Okay. I guess we are together."

"That's weird, but nice." Tony face-palmed after he sent that. It sounded really stupid.

"Haha. GTG, my uncles home. Want to hang out after school tomorrow?"

"Sure. Bye Steve."

Steve had disconnected. Tony felt pleased with himself. He successfully confirmed a relationship with Steve, getting over the fact that he was a guy. Besides, no one else would ever know. They wouldn't need to know.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Pepper sat at her white desk in her purple room and typed up her invitations for the party she was planning. Maybe all hope wasn't lost, regarding her relationship with Tony. He'd certainly appreciate this.

She decided to simply post the event on her Facebook and invite people through there. It would be easier then emailing everyone.

"Halloween Party at 2831 Downey Drive (AKA, my house.) this Saturday, October 24th! Guests are encouraged to bring money to donate to the hospital in honor of the mayor's wife. Bring friends, but no one not in high school allowed. :)) Starts at 7:00 PM and ends whenever everybody leaves! There will be food and everything. It's a costume party, so wear one. :D" Pepper was satisfied with her description, though she wasn't exactly good at writing invitations.

She knew this party would be great. Everyone loved Pepper's parties, which is why it didn't matter if she wrote good invites or not. Her family had a reputation for being hospitable.

She hesitated on inviting Steve Rogers, but was assured by the 'fact' that Tony only had some weird little crush on him, and would probably come running back to her. Steve was with Peggy anyway.

-/-/-/-/-/

The week flew by very quickly, and before they knew it, it was Friday.

Natasha had rushed home from school to tell her parents she was going last-minute costume shopping for the party.

She noticed Loki sneaking back into her basement and followed him.

"What are you doing?"

Loki jumped slightly at her unexpected intrusion.

"I'm going to do my homework, if you haven't decided to kick me out yet." He answered.

"Nah, it's fine." Natasha wasn't going to admit that she was actually beginning to enjoy having him around. Even though sneaking food to the basement a lot was rather annoying, it was nice having someone to visit with, and Loki always had something interesting to talk about. He wasn't... so bad once you got to know him. She realized that she was actually growing fond of him. She was *fond* of *Loki*- No, no she wasn't. He was annoying, narcissistic, and he had issues. No way was she liking him in any way, she just tolerated him.

"I mean, aren't you going to the halloween party that Pepper Potts is throwing? Everyone at school's invited." Natasha asked.

"Oh, I heard about that at school. No, I'm not. I don't exactly have a costume." Loki said, uninterested.

"I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again, you're such a weird fourteen year old. I think you're the only one in school who isn't completely psyched for this party. You're coming with me." She grabbed his arm and began to lead him upstairs.

"Where?" He asked, reluctantly following her but not protesting.

"Costume shopping, of course. There's this cool high-quality costume shop downtown. The lady who owns it is a friend of my parents so we get discounts on everything. She handmakes everything and she never sells the same costume twice. I always buy costumes from her at Halloween." Natasha said, smiling.

"Not a good idea, what if she calls my parents?" Loki pointed out.

"She won't, she's my friend too and I'll just ask her not to." Natasha shrugged and pulled him out the door.

"Fine, but I won't enjoy it." Loki grumbled.

-/-/-/-/-/

Clint and Thor had heard about Pepper's party. They weren't invited. Steve and Natasha were, but they weren't. Therefore, they decided to claim they were going as friends of Natasha's, and, being the bored teenage boys that they were, gate crash.

Thor never went to Halloween parties. He'd been invited to quite a few, but he usually stayed home and watched creepy horror flicks on TV instead.

Clint had never been trick-or-treating in his life, or to any of the parties. He wasn't invited. Ever. Probably because he went to his mother's New Year's party when he was 13 and ended up rigging the power to go out the minute the clock hit midnight. Everyone heard about that and nobody wanted him to ruin their parties, so they didn't invite him. He didn't really mind, but since he never did anything on Halloween, he had no costumes. Neither did Thor.

Which is why they were shopping at the only place in town that sold costumes that were awesome.

Party City.

They ended up not finding any good costumes at Party City. Well, at least none that would impress anyone at the party. This was a town pretty much chock full of rich people, Thor was surprised that Party City was still flaunting its annoying ads in the newspaper.

"Hey Clint, I see Natasha going into that costume shop over there." Thor said to his best friend as they both exited the store in disappointment.

"Maybe they have good costumes there!" Clint said triumphantly, holding the only thing he'd bought that day: peanuts. Six little bags of peanuts.

"Isn't that your brother with her?" Clint spoke again, now in surprise.

"By Jove, Watson, you're so observant!" He said in mock enthusiasm.

"Shut up, let's follow them." Clint said and they 'snuck' across the street, looking rather ridiculous.

"Natasha, this is torture." Loki muttered in a whining tone.

"Knock it off, we'll find something you like," Natasha ordered and scanned the numerous racks, looking for a costume for herself as well as Loki.

"I won't like anything." He said defiantly.

"Fine, wanna bet?" Natasha replied.

"Sure, if you don't find anything I like, you'll have to be my date to the party." Loki thought he was so awesome.

"If I can't find you something you like, you won't be *going* to the party." For about two seconds.

"Fine. We'll look." Loki gave in.

"Dude, she's shopping with your brother. What is that, a date?" Clint snickered and popped a peanut in his mouth.

"No, I'm sure she's talking on her phone, or to her imaginary friend, anyone but him!" Thor said in desperation.

"Hey Loki, look at this!"

"Screw that." Clint muttered.

"My life!" Thor said with over exaggerated (Not to mention, fake.) sobs. "My best girl friend is shopping with my little brother. Save me, Clint!"

"Your family is super weird, man." Clint shook his head. "Let's look at some costumes."

-/-/-/-/-/-

One of the things that Natasha liked best about "Lily's Handmade and High-Quality Costumes" was that she always put them in sets. You didn't have to buy all the pieces separately, they all came together.

She'd found her costume thirty minutes earlier. She was going as a spy/secret agent. The only reason they were still here was because she insisted she was going to find something for Loki to wear.

Loki had actually given up. He didn't care about it, and he didn't know why Natasha cared, but he pretended to care because she cared and he cared about her.

"Okay, you're going to go try on all of these," Natasha grunted as she put a large stack of costumes in Loki's arms. "In the dressing rooms, over there." She pointed it out.

"What are you going to be doing?" Loki asked, slowly making his way across the small store.

"I'm going to be sitting out here and looking at each costume you try on." She stood and crossed her arms, waiting.

"Whatever you say." Loki muttered.

"Okay, hurry up." Natasha practically shoved him in and then proceeded to wait.

-/-/-/

Another thirty minutes later, Loki had tried on almost every single strange costume Natasha has shoved in with him. He had just told Natasha that he was trying on the last costume.

"Hurry up, Loki, what's taking you so long?" She tapped her foot impatiently.

"I look funny in this one." She heard him grumble.

"Then I can laugh. Now hurry up and get out here." She ordered.

"Please don't laugh." He muttered as he stepped outside.

Natasha was surprised.

The last costume she had picked was... What had Lily called it? Oh yes, a dark knight.

The costume itself was probably typical of her knight costumes, except it was black. Black and green. What really stood out though, was the magnificent green cloak. It was truly the centerpiece of the ensemble, and Loki looked absolutely amazing in it. The green in the outfit matched perfectly with his piercing green eyes. He looked regal. He looked like a king. He looked *handsome*.

Natasha really couldn't look away. Wow, that was embarrassing. Staring at one of her best friend's fourteen year old brother. Ouch.

"Told you I looked ridiculous." Loki was watching her.

"You look amazing." She stated blatantly. "Uh, hurry up and change so we can buy that one!" Loki didn't look surprised as he walked back inside the small room. Natasha scowled. Of *course* he wasn't surprised. He knew that he looked really good in that costume. He was messing with her. What a jerk. A good looking fourteen year old jerk.

"She's getting attracted to my little brother!" Thor looked positively scandalized as he hissed to Clint.

"So what? I have to pay for my Robin Hood costume, come on Thor. I'm sorry she likes him more than you." Clint grinned and walked to the cash register.

-/-/-/-/-/-

Steve and Tony had agreed to pretend they weren't together, and at the party, they'd just accidentally run into each other every so often. Everything would work nicely.

The one thing that Steve *was* wondering about, was what Tony was dressing up as.

Steve was going as a soldier. His uncle had a replica WWII costume he'd worn at a party back in the 80's, and Steve found it in the attic and discovered that it fit him perfectly. He told this to Tony, who thought it was a great idea, but what Tony was going to be was still a mystery.

At least he wasn't thinking about his mother. No one would tell Tony how she was doing, and it annoyed and angered him. Steve remembered how he felt when his father was dying and could only hope Tony wouldn't have to suffer like he did.

He really was looking forward to the party.

A.N. So yeah, sorry it's late. Hope you enjoyed and please review! :)


	14. BFFs Become Enemies and There's Fondue

A.N. Wow, would you believe that I get new alerts and favorites EVERY chapter? You guys are amazing!

You all are so nice, all my reviewers who've been reviewing since the beginning and all the new ones. :D

Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 14

Pepper had just finished setting up all the decorations when the guests began to arrive.

Practically everyone was there. She spotted Bruce soon after the first few guests arrived. He was dressed as a doctor. Pepper wasn't surprised.

Soon after, he was followed by Natasha and... Was that Thor's little brother? It was. Natasha and Loki.

She spotted Clint and Thor arrive ten minutes later. Clint was dressed as Robin Hood. That made sense. Thor was himself. Not surprising. She did say to bring a costume, but he apparently didn't care.

Steve arrived with them, he was a soldier. She was definitely not his biggest fan, so she ignored him and waited for Tony.

She wasn't the only one.

Steve talked with his friends, but he looked back towards the door repeatedly. Peggy arrived moments later, dressed as a medieval princess. He admitted it was a lovely costume, she always did know how to sew very well. She made her way over to them as Thor decided to raid the food table with Clint.

Then, in walked the strangest- albeit the coolest- thing Steve had ever seen.

It made its way to Pepper and Steve saw the red and gold mask slide up. Underneath was Tony. Tony was inside that weird metal suit that looked like something out of a movie.

"Tony? What the heck are you supposed to be?" Pepper asked, looking impressed.

"Nothing in particular. To be honest, I found this in my dad's workshop. He'd given up on it a year ago, so I finished it. Minus the whole weapons thing he was planning on putting in." He grinned.

"Wow, you built that?" Steve couldn't resist coming over and joining the conversation.

"Yeah. Well, I didn't exactly do it all myself, he designed most of it. I worked all summer and longer on it." Tony explained.

"What does it do?" Pepper asked.

"Nothing important, it was mostly a sort of flying weapon suit thing. I changed it, I didn't think my dad would be very happy if I was walking around New York in a high-tech military suit." Tony said.

"Is it hot in there?" Steve spoke up.

"No, built in ventilation system. Pretty cool, huh? I even stuck the prototype of JARVIS in it." Steve wondered if anyone had ever invented something that ingenious. The Starks were brilliant, his uncle wasn't lying.

"I gotta go back to my friends. See you later." Steve left when he noticed Pepper eyeing him suspiciously.

"See you." Tony turned back to Pepper.

"What the heck's your problem? Why is he always here?**" is all Pepper wanted to say, but she held her tongue because she could almost guarantee what the answer would be. Instead, she simply started a friendly conversation with Tony and attempted to ignore the whole thing.

-/-/-/-/-/

"You don't have to hang around me if you don't want to." Loki said to Natasha as he noticed her watching her other friends.

"I never said I wanted to, I feel obliged to. Thor's my friend and I should help him out." Natasha replied.

"You know as well as I do that you don't owe him anything. You're simply staying with me because you want to."

"Am not." She abruptly got up from where they were sitting and began leading him towards Thor and the others.

"No, I refuse. I'm sure my brother does *not* want to see me." Loki stated.

"Yeah, try explaining." Natasha smiled as they arrived. Loki just stood there looking miserable.

"Loki-" Thor began but was cut off by Natasha.

"Thor, it wasn't him who sent the text. Somebody stole his phone and framed him for it, it was all a stupid prank." She said. Loki was surprised how assured she sounded, he didn't think that she cared about him at all, guess she did.

"Oh, very well." Thor smiled at his brother. "Then let's go get some chocolate fondue." He pulled a still miserable looking Loki away.

"I hate fondue." Steve muttered.

Clint was silent for a moment. "What text? The gay text? And why do you hate fondue?"

"Oh, you didn't know that we thought Loki sent the text? Oh well. Yes, that text. And he hates fondue because of an incident back in Brooklyn. I'm sure he'll explain it eventually." Peggy said.

"Eventually being the key word." Steve said, finding his focus drift to Tony, who was conversing with his friends, but still found time to send a quick smile to Steve.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

About an hour and a half into the party, Tony got bored. He thought about showing off his little surprise he'd been planning, but decided against it. Instead, he rallied up Steve and his friends plus Bruce and Pepper, and decided to rope them all into a game of Truth or Dare.

They all went upstairs, away from the rest of the group, and sat down in a circle.

"So everyone knows each other, right?" Pepper asked. They all nodded.

"And I know who everyone is, so let's start." She glanced around the room before deciding on choosing Natasha.

"Natasha, truth or dare?" Pepper asked.

"Truth, I guess." Nat answered.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" Pepper asked.

For the first time anyone in the room had seen, Natasha's cheeks flushed red.

"No." She answered.

Clint looked surprised. "You seriously haven't been kissed yet?"

"No, *I* haven't kissed anyone. They've tried to kiss me, but they were a bunch of idiots so I declined in a not-so-polite way." She said, annoyed.

"Oh. Wasn't expecting that. Your turn." Pepper said.

"Fine. Uh, Bruce, truth or dare?" Natasha asked.

"I don't want anything really bad, so truth." Bruce answered.

Nat thought for a moment. "You mentioned that you had a crush in someone a while back. Who was it?"

Bruce looked like he wanted to turn invisible. Pepper and Tony both looked at him.

"You had a crush on someone?" Pepper asked, surprised.

"My best friend didn't tell me about his crush?" Tony shook his head in disbelief and slid his faceplate back down.

"Seriously..." Bruce stayed silent for a moment. "Fine, it was an old crush anyway." He cleared his throat. "Tony."

The faceplate slid back up to reveal the shocked face of said teenager.

"You had a crush on *me*?"

"No, I'm not gay, I know you were going to ask, and yes I did. I tried to ask you for advice but you never listened." Bruce answered.

"Oh. Uh, sorry about that. I'll try to listen better," Tony said, looking a bit sheepish.

"It was over a year ago, it's fine." Bruce wanted to drop the subject.

"I'm so awesome that my best friend had a crush on me." Tony said to himself.

"It lasted exactly one month and six days. So ha ha." Bruce turned to face Clint.

"So 'Robin Hood', truth or dare?" Bruce asked.

"Dare." Clint grinned.

"Drink a gallon of milk." Bruce said.

"Uh, okay." He ran downstairs and returned with a full gallon of milk in his hand.

"Clint, you do know what might-" Natasha tried to warn him.

"I'm not going to chicken on drinking a gallon of milk." He scoffed and began to drink it quickly.

"Dude, aren't you partly lactose intolerant?" Thor whispered to him as he finished off the milk with a sick expression on his face.

Clint fled the room and left them all laughing. He returned five minutes later.

"I can eat cheese and ice cream, I didn't think it would matter." Clint said, looking sick.

"Yeah, a cheeseburger and an ice cream shake are completely different from chugging a gallon of milk in under thirty minutes." Steve said as Natasha left the room to find some breath mints for Clint.

"So, uh, Thor, truth or dare?" Clint asked, not bothering to wait for Nat to return.

"Truth." Thor said.

"Wow, you all are so boring." Clint made a face, but thought for a moment and got an evil grin. "So, who do you have a crush on?"

"Um, what?" He faked confusion.

"You heard me." Clint answered.

"Nope. I refuse." Thor stated adamantly.

"Oh Brother, you're a horrible coward." Loki rolled his eyes.

"Shut up."

"What was the question?" Natasha re-entered the room.

"Nothing." Thor spoke quickly.

"I asked him who he had a crush on." Clint answered, taking the five mints from her with a grateful smile.

"Come on Thor, I didn't even think you had a crush on anyone. You can tell us." Natasha encouraged.

"Ha ha, no. I use my chicken." Thor shook his head and turned his attention to his younger brother. "Truth or dare, Loki."

"Dare." Loki looked bored.

"One second," Thor thought to himself. "I dare you to kiss the girl closest to you."

"Fine." Loki looked around before sending an amused glance to his brother. Natasha was the nearest one.

"Uh, sorry Nat." Thor looked mortified.

Loki moved to her and gave her a quick kiss. On her cheek.

"Dude, that should be illegal!" Tony said in annoyance.

"You didn't specify." Loki said to his older brother, who looked a bit grateful that he hadn't. Natasha just sat there.

"Steve, truth or dare?" Loki asked.

"Uh, truth." Steve replied.

"Alright, do you have a crush on someone in this room, other than Peggy?" He added the last part quickly, which made Steve's face fall somewhat.

"Yeah, I do." Steve answered before turning to Tony. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." Tony decided.

"I dare you to go next door, knock, and profess your undying love to whoever answers before asking them for a roll of toilet paper." Steve replied.

"Oh, this'll be hilarious." Tony disappeared and then came back in ten minutes, looking scandalized.

"Your neighbor is a creepy middle-schooler who promptly smashed her lips onto mine after I told her." He stated.

"Yeah, I didn't mention that." Pepper shrugged, with a smile on her face.

"I sort of slammed the faceplate on the suit shut seconds after, and didn't really get the chance to ask for the toilet paper." He muttered.

"That counts as a chicken since you didn't finish it." Pepper pointed out.

"Crap. Thor, truth or dare?" Tony changed the subject.

"Dare." Thor shuddered slightly, not wanting to repeat what happened last time he chose truth.

"I dare you to tell the person you like that you like them." Tony said, satisfied with his dare.

"What?" Thor sunk into the floor. "Don't hate me." He said to no one in particular, and the usually happy jock looked miserable.

"Uh, Nat, I've been attracted to you ever since we became friends." He announced.

Natasha blinked.

"Man, you can't have a crush on Nat! I have a crush on Nat!" Clint said, looking angry with his best friend.

"My, everyone loves you as much as Tony Stark." Loki whispered to Natasha, who was currently shocked.

"You know what, I'm not talking to you now." Clint said defiantly.

"No, *I'm* not talking to *you*!" Thor announced.

"Fine!" Clint rose from the floor.

"I don't care!" Thor rose and they both stormed out of the room, and then left the party.

"Wow." Steve rose his eyebrows.

"Yeah." Tony motioned for him to follow before leaving the room.

"I better get back to my guests." Pepper decided and left as well. "I'll go join you. Bye, Nat." Bruce said and followed her.

"Guess it's just you and me." Loki said quietly.

"We should probably go home." She answered.

"Very well." He trailed her close behind.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Some party, isn't it." Steve asked rhetorically as he joined Tony on the balcony outside the master bedroom.

"I wanted to show you something." Tony replied.

"Oh, what?" Steve said, curious.

"Grab onto my shoulders and don't let go." Tony responded.

"Uh, okay?" Steve held on as Tony's faceplate shut. "Tony, what are you doing?" He asked, somewhat nervous.

"I didn't take every cool thing off this suit." Tony grinned to himself before blasting off into the air.

A.N. Hope this chapter made you guys happy! I am actually happy with it, so that's always good!

Your reviews are very appreciated, very very much so! :)


	15. Hospital Visits

A.N. I'm feeling all happy and fuzzy. This is what so many reviews do to me. We're almost to TWO HUNDRED. Wow! You guys have been so amazing.

Chapter Fifteen

Steve couldn't help but freak out a little as Tony flew above the town with him clinging to his back.

"You scream like a little girl." Tony joked.

"Yeah, I'm not the uh, biggest fan of heights." Steve said with wide eyes.

"Relax, if you fall, I'll catch you." He swooped down in a split second.

"TONY!" He yelled.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I couldn't resist." His voice came through the helmet as he flew above the town.

"Wow, the view up here is amazing." Steve remarked, relaxing somewhat.

"I've seen better."

Steve just held to his shoulders and admired the view before

Tony flew them to the roof of the town hall and they landed not-so-softly on it.

They sat, careful not to slide off, and Tony slid up his faceplate.

"Well, that was fun." Steve thought aloud.

"Yeah. Glad we didn't crash, that was the first time I've flown in that thing." Tony remarked.

"We could have *died*!" Steve looked freaked out.

"I was kidding." He snickered. "Don't worry Steve, I would never have taken you up in it if I hadn't made sure it was safe."

"Nice to know you care." Steve replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I do." Tony replied seriously.

Steve looked at him for a minute before staring at the stars and he let out a small sigh of contentment.

Tony glanced at his secret-boyfriend and laughed.

"What?" Steve asked.

"You." Tony grinned.

"I don't see how I'm funny." Steve looked confused.

"That just makes it worse!" Tony laughed again.

"Do you mind explaining?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"You look so adorable." Tony stated bluntly.

Steve was glad it was pretty dark, except for the streetlights, so Tony couldn't see the blush on his cheeks.

"Are you blushing?"

Or not. "It's dark, how could you tell?"

"Well, you usually say nothing when you're embarrassed, and you usually blush too. I think you're adorable." Tony added.

"Shut up." Steve said, but he wasn't actually annoyed. He actually moved closer to Tony and put his head on the his armor-covered shoulder.

"Hey, is that my dad?" Tony said suddenly.

"Yeah, he looks like he's in a hurry." Steve replied.

"Maybe it has something to do with Mom." Tony said hopefully.

Steve just grabbed his shoulders and Tony followed his dad's car to the hospital.

"You aren't seriously going in there wearing that." Steve looked a little amused.

"It's almost Halloween, I'm sure they're expecting stuff like this, besides, you're coming too." Tony shrugged and entered the hospital, Steve reluctantly followed him.

Tony followed the path he'd memorized to his mother's room and stopped suddenly.

His mother was there. She was in a wheelchair, but she was *okay*. She was alive.

Tony threw his metal encased arms around her and she laughed. He'd never been so relieved to hear her melodious laugh. Howard joined the hug and Steve watched, wistfully remembering the last time he'd been with both his parents.

Tony broke away and whispered something only his mother heard. She smiled as he walked back to Steve and kissed him softly in the middle of the hallway, in front of the speechless nurses, doctors, and his father. Maria just looked proud of him.

"Come on Steve, I'll walk you home. Don't worry, I'll go straight home." Tony added to his mother and pulled a speechless and happy Steve out the door, ignoring the shocked expression on the face of his father.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Tony, what was that back at the hospital?" Steve asked when they landed outside his uncle's house.

"I couldn't help myself, sorry." He said, looking a little sheepish.

"Uh, no need to be sorry. I just never thought you'd ever want anyone to know we were together," Steve replied. "In fact, I was rather expecting you to break up with me soon."

"Steve, why would you think that?" Tony said incredulously.

"You're Tony Stark. The mayor's son, the most popular kid in school, I never thought you could handle being with another guy, especially one like me." Steve admitted.

"I don't care about that. Why should I? I never wanted any of that. It all just happened to me. Though I have to admit I enjoyed the popularity, but Steve, I'd rather have you than all the popularity and girls in the world," Tony said. "That sounded cliché." He added and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, a little cliché is always nice." Steve looked towards the door. "I better go, good night Tony." He turned to leave.

"What, no good night kiss?" Tony sounded a bit indignant. "You haven't kissed me yet. I've always kissed you." He pointed out.

Steve turned back around and kissed him quickly.

"Steve! You never told me you got a boyfriend!" Steve groaned as he heard his uncle open the door.

"Hey." Tony greeted, flashing one of those cheeky smiles that Steve loved so much.

"The Starks' kid! Never expected you and Steve to get together." His uncle said in surprise.

"Yeah, well, we did." Tony shrugged. "Gotta run. Or should I say, fly. Bye Steve, thanks for the kiss." He grinned and flew off.

Steve watched him leave in disappointment.

"So... you got a boyfriend." His uncle said in a singsong voice.

"DON'T START!" Steve rushed past him and he just chuckled.

-/-/-/-/-/

Tony braced himself for the yelling as he entered the house. He knew that Howard would not be proud of him for being with a guy. It never came.

"Hi Tony." He heard his father's voice from the living room and he followed it.

"Hey." He said simply.

"So, you finished the suit." Howard said.

"Yeah. I took out the weapons though." Tony said quickly.

"Good," He paused for a momet. "And you're dating Steven Rogers."

"Yeah, and for once in my life, I don't care about your approval." Tony said, going into defense mode.

"Stop. No, I'm not happy about it, but you're my son, and I really do love you. Whether you're... straight or not." He said firmly.

Tony turned to leave.

"Don't hurt him, Tony." His father warned.

Tony was surprised. Why would he care? Oh yes, he and the Rogers were friends. His father seemed to really like Steve. He felt a pang of jealousy.

"I never would."

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha always slept in late on Sundays. Usually. Today, she woke up early simply to go to the bathroom. It was around 7:30 AM. As she was returning to her comfy and warm bed, she heard something in the basement. Someone was walking around.

Loki usually was up this early, doing homework or on his laptop, but he never moved around. He was very careful not to wake the Romanoffs.

Natasha walked downstairs and what she saw hurt her more than she'd ever admit.

"You're leaving." Her tone was flat.

"Natasha." Loki looked up from his single bag and faced her. "Yes, apparently the situation at home has blown over, and Thor says I can come back."

"Oh, and it never occurred for you to say thank you before you left?" Natasha said.

"I was going to leave a note or text." Loki wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Well, that shows a lot about you. You're too busy to give a simple 'thank you' to the girl whose house you've been living in." Natasha said, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"You're overreacting-"

"I am not. I don't even care about you. This was all for Thor. He probably appreciated it more than you. Good bye." She folded her arms over her chest.

"Good bye, and I truly am grateful. You've done more than I ever expected." Loki replied quietly and ascended the stairs.

As he walked out the door, he thought back on her words.

The reason he had attempted to leave in silence was for one reason: He didn't want to leave, and he most certainly did not want to say good-bye to Natasha. He'd probably end up kissing her, and he knew exactly what her opinion on that would be.

He cursed himself for hurting her feelings like he'd done, and put the letter on the doorstep carefully. It explained everything he had wanted to say, and why he had lied. The turmoil at home was not over, it never would be, which is exactly why he was leaving town.

Loki almost felt like crying. He hadn't cried since he was a child. He brushed it aside and began walking up the street.

Only seconds later, he spotted a car speeding towards him. He turned and saw Natasha crossing the street towards him, so he did the only reasonable thing.

He shoved her out of the way of the car and got hit himself.

Natasha rose from her spot on the side of the road and turned to see what had happened.

Natasha never freaked out. Sure, she could come unhinged sometimes, but she never truly freaked out. Not since she was a little kid. Until now.

When she saw Loki lying motionless in the street, her first instinct was to freak out. And she did. She didn't block the scream that forced its way out of her throat, and she didn't control the tears that began falling from her crystal blue eyes.

She grabbed his cell phone from the side of his backpack and dialed 9-1-1 on the cracked (Still functioning.) touch screen, and while she waited, she simply brought him to the sidewalk and held him tight as she cried.

Her shocked parents were outside just as the paramedics arrived. Her mother asked her what happened as they began CPR on him. She told them most of the truth. Her tears were now drying up and she brought her raging emotions under control, listening to the chatter of the paramedics. He was partly conscious now, and he was breathing, they rushed him to the hospital.

Natasha was vaguely aware of her father dialing Loki's parents and informing them of the situation. She simply walked back to the house in a state of shock.

Natasha spotted the letter that had been kicked aside by her parents. She noted her name in his strange handwriting. You'd never see it from a typical teenage guy, if Thor and Clint were typical at least. It was elegant and neat. 'Gay' in Thor-speak. (He didn't mean anything by it, after all, he had no problem with gays.) She clutched it and ran to her room. As she sat at her desk, and tore it open, she was shocked with what she read.

"Dear Natasha,

By the time you read this, I will be gone. You have been the only one to listen and believe me. (Thor does not count.) You took me in when I was unwelcome anywhere else. I truly care for you and am forever grateful.

Anyways, the truth is, I did not tell you I was leaving because, Natasha, I don't like lying to you. I am not leaving because I can go home, I'm leaving because I can *never* go home. The turmoil has not ended, and I doubt it ever will. I have enough money to go somewhere, and besides, I'm intelligent, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

You're the only one I'll miss. I do have feelings for you, and I am now aware of the feelings both my brother and his friend have for you. They do not deserve someone as amazing as you. Neither do I. I may be fourteen, but I am not infatuated nor obsessed with you, I am in love with you. I'm sure you know that.

I can tell you this because I'll never see you again, and I am too much of a cowardly child to say it to your face. Good bye, Natasha.

Yours,

Loki Odinson."

That stupid boy. He was fourteen, where exactly did he think he could go? Why did he think he was so mature? Natasha couldn't help but laugh humorlessly simply from the stress of it all. Loki was dying because he jumped in front of a car for her. He had planned on leaving town. Where was he going to go?

Natasha cried again. Only for a few minutes, before she called Thor.

"Natasha! Are you alright? I heard what happened." Thor sounded like he had been crying too. That was disconcerting.

"He was leaving town." She said.

"What?"

"He'd been staying in my basement. He claimed he was going home, but I found out that he was really leaving town." Natasha said, her voice sounding strained.

"He's not in critical. The doctors won't tell me how he's doing." Thor said simply.

"Call me when he's awake, I want to talk to him." Natasha asked.

"Will do." Thor sounded awful.

"Are you and Clint still not speaking?"

There was silence on the other end. "Bye Nat."

Natasha put the phone away. He of all people should know how she was feeling. Loki was his brother. And yet he still wasn't speaking to his best friend because of a stupid crush. Clint would be there for him.

Natasha folded the tear stained letter and hid it away before crashing onto her bed and trying to sleep.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Clint was practicing archery in his backyard. He knew that the neighbors hated it, but he didn't care. He was annoyed with his best friend.

He heard his cell ring and answered it after shooting another arrow at his fence.

"If his is Thor-"

"Yeah, it's me. Natasha's broken right now. Please to talk to her." Thor begged.

"Why is she broken and why are you asking me?"

"Loki's in the hospital because he jumped in front of a car for her. She's probably blaming herself and I don't want to leave the hospital. Okay?" Thor sounded stressed.

"Fine." He fired another arrow and hit the center. "Dude, I hate fighting. Can we make up?"

"Sure." Thor decided. "I hate fighting too."

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha was sitting cross legged on her bed and throwing her phone in the air when her parents said she had a visitor.

"Hey Nat, how's it going?" Clint opened the door a bit. She really didn't want to see him but she let him in.

"Thor and I made up." He said, attempting to be cheerful.

"Nice."

"So, Loki..." Clint waited for her response.

"I got attached to the guy." She said quietly.

"Yeah, and then he got hit by a car when trying to ditch the town." Clint stated.

"The stupid kid." She said, her voice breaking.

Clint hugged her, she wanted to protest but simply sat there, comforted by his presence.

-/-/-/-/-/

Steve was going through his Facebook notifications when he noticed a chat from Peggy.

"Hey, what happened after the party last night?" She asked.

"I left with Tony. Peggy, I need to tell you something."

"It's alright, I know. You're with Tony. I won't tell. I have to leave for Brooklyn in three days anyway. :("

"Peggy, I'm sorry. You're a great friend."

"Thanks. :) I hope you're happy."

"Me too."

"TTYL."

A simple chat. He kind of wished that he could see Tony, but his uncle insisted on having a Star Wars marathon so Steve had to stay home.

Nobody thought to inform him of the car accident.

-/-/-/-

A.N. Sorry about the angsty Loki/Nat stuff. I swear, more Stony next chapter. Promise.

I don't even know if Blackfrost will be in this story, it might just stay one-sided.

Reviews make my day!

I would've gotten this up a lot sooner, but my iPod deleted quite a bit of it that I had to rewrite. xP Sorry about that.


	16. Not so Accepting Fathers & Crappy Pizza

A.N. Meep, I almost made you wait three days. x( Sorry about that.

I'm glad that none of you seemed to mind the Natasha/Loki in the last chapter, unfortunately, they might be taking a little break. I'll probably write more of Bruce, Clint, Thor, and of course, Steve and Tony.

Here's the chapter you've been waiting for since you finished the last one! xD

Oh, and the amount of reviews I have = EPIC.

Chapter 16

Tony, as per usual on Sunday nights, was working downstairs, today, he was working on JARVIS.

"JARVIS, I'm bored and tired. Please tell me that you can play me music whenever I ask." He muttered.

"Mr. Stark, would you like me to play some-"

"It's fine, nice to know you get it." Tony sat back in satisfaction before deciding to look at the security tapes from late last night. He didn't have a particular reason, other than boredom and the curiosity of how his mother reacted to the messy living room. (Tony and his dad weren't exactly neat freaks.)

He was surprised when he saw his father storming into the room looking furious. Maria was close behind him.

Tony turned up the volume so he could hear their voices clearly.

"I don't believe this, Maria! How can my son be so..." Howard stopped and faced his wife. "What happened to that lovely girlfriend of his?" He demanded.

"She broke up with him." Maria said, in a tired voice.

"I'm sorry dear, you need your rest. We can talk about this tomorrow." Howard's voice softened a bit but Maria stood, unmoving.

"No. We'll talk about it now. He's my son and I don't want him crushed to pieces because of your prejudice and pride!" She said, her voice rising.

"How is it my pride?"

"You've always been so determined to raise the perfect son. Exactly like you, and up until now, you thought you were succeeding. Now that you haven't, of course you're going to hate him!" Maria argued.

"I could never hate Tony! I hate that he's gay for Steve Rogers!" He spat out the last sentence, and Tony almost swore he heard hatred in his voice.

"Then you hate him! Those feelings are a part of him, hating them is hating him, and Howard, I am *proud* of our son. He is a unique child, he's talented, and he is his own person. No one's homophobic opinions will change that. Will you never see that? He tries his hardest to impress you, have you not seen the amazing inventions he's built simply from his imagination and genius mind. You never acknowledge any of it! You treat him like a failure, he is an amazing person, and I am truly happy with how he's growing up. I am proud of him for showing his feelings for Steve. I am disgusted by you, Howard. He is your son. Maybe you should think about that." Maria had angry tears forming in her eyes, and she left the room.

Howard stood there before sinking into the couch with his face in his hands.

Tony skipped ahead a few minutes and came across when he came into the house. He stopped the video and stood up with clenched fists. Howard had lied, right to his face. He told him he was fine with it, more or less. In reality, he was disgusted by it.

Tony simply locked up his section of the lab and went to his room.

Maybe it was stupid. Kissing Steve in front of all those people. Someone from school was sure to catch wind of it. Tony couldn't believe that he hadn't been ridiculed yet. Well, he hadn't seen anyone the whole day. His father was working and his mother had to go grocery shopping, and when she came back she was exhausted. Tomorrow was the big day. Yay.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

When Steve walked into school the next morning, he was positive that he missed something. Almost everyone was making disgusted faces at him, one of the exceptions being those two weird girls, Mary Margaret and Becky.

His friends were being weird too. Clint and Thor were silent, for once, and Natasha had an emotionless expression on her face. She hardly said a word to anyone, except in class.

Steve ran into Tony and stopped him before he could walk off.

"Tony, did I miss something? Everyone's acting a billion times more weird than they were on Saturday." Steve had the most adorable confused look on his face. Tony couldn't help but be put in a tad more happy mood by his boyfriend.

"Well, they heard about you and me, and Loki got hit by a taco truck. Well, actually, I think it was just a truck, but adding 'taco' makes everything more interesting." He shrugged and continued walking.

"Oh man. Tony, I'm sorry." Steve looked embarrassed.

"About what?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"They found out about, uh, us." He said awkwardly. Tony loved it when he was embarrassed, he looked so adorable.

"Yeah, and?" Tony pretended not to care.

"We can break up if you want." Steve said quickly.

"Why would I want to break up? I like you Steve, screw my ex-adoring fans." Tony rolled his eyes and, not thinking very much, gave Steve a chaste kiss on his lips. In the middle of the hallway. He certainly was beginning to make that a habit.

"I better go before Bruce goes nuts on me being late for our science project." He grinned and walked off, unintentionally leaving Steve to the mercy of the lions that were highschoolers.

"Bye." Steve mumbled and started to walk to his locker, despite the stares he was getting from various students. He then— Yes, just then. — realized that he never told Clint and Thor about him and Tony. Oh dear.

He went to third period and attempted to forget his troubles, not succeeding very well.

-/-/-/-/

Clint noticed the uncomfortable silence in the cafeteria the minute he walked in. It was like everyone was having a major hangover from the party.

He simply joined his best friend in the lunch line and they both groaned when they noticed the meal. Pizza. Vegetarian or meat. The pizza was gross, the cheese was rubbery and the crust tasted like cardboard. Actually, Clint had eaten cardboard before, and it was better than this crap.

He and Thor decided to go the gluten free route and have some salad. At least they could lather it in creamy Caesar dressing.

They found the table that they always sat at, and settled in uncomfortable silence, Natasha joining them. Until Steve came along and actually talked.

"Guys, I need too tell you something." Steve announced.

Normally eager-to-listen Natasha was silent as she poked her straw in her milk.

Clint and Thor exchanged worried glances before nodding to Steve to continue.

"I'm dating Tony Stark." He said, a little too loudly, and people around the cafeteria looked at him, surprised by his confirming the rumor.

"You're what?" Clint pretended to be surprised.

"How'd you guys already know?" Steve asked, confusion in his face.

"We saw you snogging at the movie theater." Thor mumbled, staring intently at Natasha, his concern apparent.

"That's totally creepy, but okay. Nat, are you okay?" Steve changed the subject.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine." She said quietly, lost in thought.

"Is it because of Loki's car accident?" Steve questioned. Thor and Clint acted like he grew two more heads.

"I was supposed to be hit by that car, he saved me." Nat continued, looking rather depressed.

"I don't know why you care." Clint muttered.

"I don't." Natasha defended herself, but she didn't sound very convinced. "He's in the hospital instead of me, because he saved me, and that's what I care about." She stalked out and Clint looked a little ashamed.

"Nice move." Thor mumbled.

Steve thought about going after her, but decided against it. Natasha probably needed to think.

-/-/-/-/

Natasha, after leaving the lunch room, didn't know exactly where to go. Stupid guys

She loved all her friends, but sometimes they (Specifically: Clint.) could be so annoying.

She walked a few corridors before sliding to the floor. She didn't know why she was feeling so awful. She didn't feel like eating, she didn't feel like talking, she didn't feel like doing anything, and she didn't understand why. Loki was going to be okay, the car didn't hit him that hard. She hoped.

The answer lay right in front of her. She wasn't going to allow herself to believe it. She didn't care for Loki at all, and certainly not romantically.

At all was abut harsh.

She mentally slapped herself. She was thinking like she promised herself she wouldn't.

Was this how Tony felt when he was crushing on Steve?

She was glad her thoughts were interrupted by someone. Namely, Bruce Banner.

"What's on your mind?" He asked, sitting next to her.

"I'm confused."

"I've heard that one before." He responded, thinking of Tony.

"Well, I think I like someone who's been pining after me. I thought it was just a weird obsession, but he jumped in front of a car for me. Literally. He's in the hospital now, and I... miss him. He was living in my basement for a while, and he was leaving the morning he was hit. I got mad at him. The last thing I said to him was 'good-bye', and I was angry. I should've let him explain. I want to go see him." She announced suddenly and got up, Bruce followed her.

"Thanks Bruce, call me when you need someone to listen." She hugged him quickly and left.

"Yeah, I'm so helpful." He shrugged and went back to his lunch.

-/-/-/-/-/

Nat knew ditching school for a hospital visit probably wasn't right, but she didn't care.

She rushed to his room, (Thor had given her the number.) and, noticing no one was around, snuck inside.

Loki looked awful. Natasha didn't know the extent of the injuries.

"Excuse me, are you family? Only family of the patient are allowed in this room." A doctor said, walking into the room.

"Uh, yeah," Natasha lied. "What were the injuries?"

"Currently? He had two broken ribs, a broken wrist, a broken ankle, and internal bleeding. He'll be in here for quite a while." The doctor shook his head and Natasha felt sick. "Thanks, I gotta go." She rushed from the room and rather than return to school, she went home.

-/-/-/-/

Pepper saw Tony sitting by himself in lunch. He'd gone over and talked to Steve, but he returned to his seat moments later.

"Tony, are you and Steve really together?" Pepper asked.

"Yes, yes we are." He responded in a calm voice.

"So you're gay?"

"More like bisexual." He said thoughtfully.

"Okay. I only have one thing to say," Pepper looked in his eyes. "Don't hurt him like you hurt me."

-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. I lied. BlackFrost will be taking a break after this chapter.

Hoped you liked. :D


	17. Fathers who Fail and Another Newbie

A.N. Trying to update faster... It seems my inspiration only comes in for work every other day. xP

Again, thanks so much for the reviews!

Chapter 17

Thor and Clint were both feeling left out. Steve had Tony, Natasha had Loki, (Sort of.) and they each had no one. It was really rather depressing, considering they were both quite attractive. They both had feelings for Natasha, which Thor was determined to get over, Clint wasn't going to do anything about them. So, they sat at their lunch table, all alone, because Steve decided to go talk to Tony.

"Clint, I want a girlfriend." Thor announced.

"What about your long-distance relationship with Jane?" Clint said, poking uninterestedly at the soggy salad in front of him.

"We're just friends now." Thor replied.

"And your crush on Natasha?" Clint had disdain in his voice but Thor ignored it.

"I think she's rather fond of my little brother." Thor said, making a face that you'd probably see on a six year old that had to eat canned spinach.

"Hmm," Clint looked thoughtful for a moment. "Go find some girl to flirt with." He shrugged and pulled out a packet of peanuts from his backpack.

"Great idea!" Thor said animatedly before leaving the table and his best friend.

"Oh well, I've always got you, my dear peanuts." He muttered and threw a few in his mouth, before deciding to practice his aim by throwing them at people's heads. (They were used to it by now, so nobody was surprised when they felt a little roundish object hitting them in the back of the head.)

Thor found no girls living up to his standards. They were all engaging in conversation about makeup and fashion with their friends. He frowned, and did what he usually did when he needed advice. He texted his ex-girlfriend.

"Jane, all the girls at school suck. :( :(" He typed.

"I'm sorry. Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure. IDK what I can do for you, since you're in OR." He texted back.

"My cousin (She's 15.) just moved and is going to Stark High."

"And?"

"I was hoping you could help her through the 1st day."

"Yeah, sure, but the day's already started LOL."

"IK that. She's been homeschooled for all her life, plz help her out."

Thor thought for a moment; he'd love to help Jane, but her cousin was probably the exact opposite of Jane, AKA, one of the annoying girls who gossiped about makeup and crap. Oh well.

"Sure. I'll help you out. TTYL." He sent it before looking around the cafeteria to see if her cousin was alone. Lunch period was already halfway over, so maybe he'd get lucky and she'd already have friends or whatever, and he could return to goofing around with his best friend.

Thor glanced to the only loner he saw, a girl with long wavy brown hair and glasses with rectangular frames. She was eating a slice of meat pizza and lip-syncing to a song on her iPod.

Thor realized that Jane hadn't even told him her name, but he knew that she was the new girl simply because she was actually eating that pizza.

Everyone knew it was barely edible. Nobody knew why they still made it.

Thor just walked up and cleared his throat, put on his best charming smile, and introduced himself.

"Aren't you Jane's cousin? I'm Thor." Not the best introduction, but it would do.

She turned around and pulled out her earbuds, looking surprised by his arrival.

"Uh, yeah. I'm Darcy Lewis." She smiled, recovering from her shock and putting her earphones back in.

"Nice to meet you Darcy." He noticed Clint aiming for her head with his peanuts and he waved him off. Clint noticed and grinned before throwing the stupid peanut anyway.

"Yeah," Darcy paused her music and looked at him. "You don't have to talk to me, I know Jane told you to. She's always like that."

Thor now wanted to talk to her, because she didn't seem to be obsessed with makeup or fashion, so no way was he leaving. "Nope, you're not like most of the other girls here. So I'll talk to you."

"I'm a Gemini, my favorite food is pizza, hence why I'm still eating this stuff, my least favorite food is cucumbers. I love "CSI" and Grimm Brothers' fairy tales, my favorite music artists are Katy Perry and One Direction, and I love to be social, most of the time." She ticked off each one on her fingers.

"Okay. Well, I'm Thor, sixteen, and an Aries. My favorite food is nachos, I hate tofu. I love "Pysch" and any action movie that has good acting and a decent and somewhat believable plot. I don't usually listen to music, and my hobbies are Minecraft and football. I like meeting new people, and I apparently have a flair for being dramatic." He listed.

"Yeah, I can totally see you being a drama queen," Darcy joked. "So, you're not just sticking around 'cause Jane asked you to?"

"Nope, I'm sticking around because I want to know what in your funny little mind makes One Direction worth listening to." Thor announced.

"Take that back, Niall's my future husband!" Darcy said with an exaggerated horrified expression.

"So, you have a thing for British guys?" Thor said in a flirtatious voice.

"He's Irish." Darcy said, deadpan.

"Crap."

Clint chewed his peanuts with a frown on his face. It really wasn't fair now. Thor was hitting it off with a cute nerdy looking chick. Why couldn't he get a girl? Life sucked. It was official. And now his peanuts were gone. What a bad day.

Steve came back to the table with a smile on his face.

"Have a good time talking to your boyfriend?" Clint said dryly.

"Yeah," Steve looked like he was about to go into a daydream, but he stopped when he noticed the foul expression on his friend's face. "Thor's with a girl. I thought he had a crush on Nat." Steve said.

"Yeah, he's actually able to get over it, plus that's his ex's cousin, he's just hung nice. Now I only have the little fourteen year old to compete with." Clint said, looking forlornly at his empty bag that used to contain wonderfully salty nuts.

"Good luck with that." Steve smiled and went back to daydreaming until the ball rang and they had to go to class.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony was planning in his head on the way home from school. He had two options.

1: Act overly gay around his dad just to bug him.

2: Confront his dad about his true opinion on Steve and Tony's relationship.

Normally, Tomy might have chosen option one, but he really wasn't in the mood for being a jokester or whatnot, so instead, he decided to confront his dad when he arrived home.

Howard had used three of his vacation days so he could be at home with his wife. He'd never do that to be with his abomination of a son, Tony thought bitterly as he swung open the front door and proceeded to burst into the study.

"Tony?" Howard looked surprised when he saw his son.

"Yeah, it's me. Your disgusting, gay, sorry excuse for a son." Tony spat out. He'd been stewing about this since after lunch.

"So, you know about my opinion on that... matter." Howard said coolly.

"Yeah, and I can't believe you'd hate me." Tony glared.

"I do not hate you-"

"No, you hate that I'm with Steve! When will you get it, my feelings for Steve are part of ME. I'm still the Tony you played catch with when I was five, I'm still the Tony who you taught to ride a bike before you became such a self-centered jerk. I'm just in love with a guy. Big freakin' deal!" Tony shouted.

"It is a big deal! Normal people are not like that, they like the opposite gender, Tony! Why don't you go back to that lovely girlfriend of yours?" Howard asked in a pleading tone.

"I don't have any romantic feelings for Pepper! And I know I'm not normal, I know I'm a freak, but can't you just accept it and move on?" Tony demanded.

"No son of mine would act like you are." Howard hissed.

"No son of yours? What, you're disowning me at fifteen?" Tony asked, incredulous. "I AM your son! I started building a pretty sophisticated artificial intelligence at thirteen, I finished the military suit of armor you'd given up on just weeks ago! How am I EVER supposed to impress you?" Tony had tears in his eyes. "No. You know what, screw you and screw your stupid homophobic opinions. I'm done. You don't want me as a son? Fine, I won't be your son. I won't even live here. I'm leaving." Tony shook his head and stormed out.

Maria, who had heard the shouting, quickly ran towards her son with concern in her eyes.

"Tony, are you alright?" She asked, trying to get close to him.

"Bye Mom. I *do* love you." Tony said in an eerily calm voice as he walked down to his lab.

"JARVIS, get me my suit." He ordered the AI.

"As you wish, sir. May I suggest not acting so hastily?" The mechanical voice responded.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to listen." Tony slid his helmet shut, and thinking for only a split second, shot straight up, destroying floors/ceilings of three floors. Howard deserved it, in Tony's opinion.

JARVIS was right. He shouldn't have acted so quickly and on impulse. He probably should have thought about it.

Whatever. He couldn't go back now. Howard was going to have to apologize first. He'd just go pig out on donuts using his dad's credit card.

-/-/-/-/-/

Clint was firing arrows at his fence, again. He'd been doing it for the past thirty minutes. It made him feel better. Thor hadn't spoken to him since lunch. He felt lonely and crappy. Yes, he may be Clint Barton, archer teen extraordinaire, but he was probably the most sensitive out of all his friends, next to Steve.

"Clint, your girlfriend is here to see you." He heard his mom yell from the kitchen.

"Natasha." He breathed happily and rushed to the door, forgetting about the bow he forgot to put down.

"Hey Nat." He said in a carefree voice.

"Hey." The red head said, glancing at the wooden object in his hands. "I guess you're busy with archery."

"Never too busy for you." He grinned.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out. I kinda skipped school, which is why you didn't see me after classes." Natasha shrugged.

"I'd love to hang out. Come on in. You can stay for dinner too, if you want." Clint crossed his fingers.

"Yeah, I'd like to stay for dinner, I guess." She shrugged.

"Okay." Clint said. All he could think was 'SCORE!'.

-/-/-/-

A.N. *Cringing from shortness of chapter* Sorry about that, but I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to upload it. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review. ;D


	18. Everyone has a Crappy Night

A.N. Know what? Last chapter was only 100 words shorter than the one before. Pointing it out makes it feel shorter, doesn't it? xD

I hope this somewhat fast update makes up for the barely-hitting 2,000 words chapter. :)

Chapter 18

Tony flew away from the town. The town he'd lived in since he was a child. The town that was full of kids he'd known since he went to preschool. They'd all loved him. In middle school, everyone did everything for him. Everyone wanted to be friends with him. They all loved him. Same with high school, well, until he finally needed support. Apparently, bisexual billionaire's sons weren't nearly as lovable as straight playboy billionaire's sons, he thought to himself bitterly.

He'd been betrayed, he should have expected it. Bruce and Pepper were probably the only real friends he had, the rest just 'liked' him because of his status and his money. How typical.

There was Steve. Steve and his friends. They seemed to like him. But if his dad didn't like him, life was over. So, that was why he decided to fly into the bigger part of New York. He had his credit cards (He decided against taking his dad's.) and was already planning his disguise.

His dad may be the mayor of a small town in almost the middle of nowhere, but he was also a weapons supplier for the military, and a billionaire. The paparazzi were very quick to catch any drama involving the Stark family.

He knew he promised. He promised not to hurt Steve. He never wanted to hurt Steve. He lov- liked Steve. It would hurt Steve more if he stayed, he finally decided. It was for everyone's good if he just left.

He'd not be gone longer than... a year. A year would be long enough for Steve to move on. Maybe get back with Peggy. Maybe.

He found himself fighting tears at the thought of his adorable blond-haired boyfriend with his beautiful azure eyes that Tony loved so much.

He loved Steve.

"Sir, we're approaching the border of town, where do you wish to proceed?" JARVIS announced.

Brooklyn, that'd be a nice place to stay. "Give me directions to Brooklyn."

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve was humming to himself while flipping through the channels on his TV when he heard a knock on the door.

He knew who it was, she told him that she was coming over.

"Hi Steve." Peggy greeted.

"Hey." Steve let her in.

"I don't have very much time, I'm afraid. My flight leaves in a few minutes for Brooklyn." She said sadly.

"You're leaving already?" She nodded. "I really appreciate you coming here, especially since I dumped you." Steve said, a little sheepish.

"It's fine, no hard feelings. You're happy, that's what matters." Peggy said with a sad smile.

"Peggy, you're amazing. You know that?" Steve said and hugged her.

"Now I do." Peggy mumbled into the hug before pulling away. "I do hope you're happy Steve."

"I think I will be. Thanks Peggy." He replied with a smile.

"See you around." She walked outside slowly.

"Bye Peggy, I'll miss you." He said truthfully.

"I'll keep in touch." She left with a wave.

Steve shut the door and went back to channel surfing, looking forward to the next time he saw his boyfriend.

-/-/-/-/

Natasha always liked Clint's family. His mother, father, and brother were as much of a second family to her as Steve, Clint, and Thor were.

Her friendship with Clint had always been close. They hung out at each other's houses all the time and their mothers were great friends. Everyone knew they were close, but Clint's family always assumed it was in a romantic way. Ever since the party, Natasha was convinced that it was, in his eyes that is.

"So Tasha, are you and Clint finally dating?"

"Shut up, Barney." Natasha replied with an eye roll to Clint's annoying older brother.

"What? I just want to make sure that if my little bro doesn't get you, then I can." Barney replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, fat chance of that *ever* happening." Clint scoffed.

"Bro, I've got your charming wit times a million, I am a lady *magnet*." He stated proudly, and leaned back in his chair.

"You aren't as great an archer." Clint said competitively.

"Yeah I am. I bet Dad's more proud of me." Barney replied.

"You wish!" Clint scoffed.

"Why don't you just ask him?" Natasha gestured to his father, Harold, who was sitting at the end of the table eating some of the homemade Chinese lo mein, which was covered in Clint's favorite peanut butter sauce.

"Dad, who are you more proud of, me or Clint *Francis*?" Barney said, using his brother's much disliked middle name.

"Both of you." He said through a mouthful of food.

His wife, Edith, smacked him on the arm. "Don't talk with your mouth full, you're as bad as the boys." She muttered.

"Like father like son." He replied with a grin.

"I swear, I'm the only adult around here." Edith remarked to Natasha, who just laughed.

"My family. My life." Clint put his face in his hands. Natasha pat him on the back.

"Thor's is worse." She pointed out and Clint pondered that before nodding and taking a big bite of his noodles.

"Why aren't you dating Clint then?" Barney changed the subject.

"Um, 'cause we're just friends." Natasha responded.

"But you must have have another reason not to try out dating. I mean, Clint's had a crush on you since fifth grade." Barney announced and Clint wanted to bury his face in his lo mein.

"Oh, really?" Natasha glanced at him.

"Yeah, I remember that I found his diary-"

"You kept a diary?" Natasha looked surprised. Clint sunk into his chair.

"Uh huh. In seventh grade. He wrote about how cute you looked when you were concentrating in class-"

"You watched me write in class?" Could this become any more awkward?

"And how beautiful you looked when you two watched the sunset at day camp that summer, because the sun shone on your hair *just* right-"

"You think I'm beautiful?"

"And then how he dreamt about kissing you at Christmas time-"

"Wait, *what*?"

"Barney!" His mother, who had been too shocked previously to say anything, admonished.

"So yeah. He's been officially head-over-heels for you for quite some time," Barney leaned back in his chair, with a satisfied smirk on his face. "And you know, a week ago, he was actually going to work up the nerve to ask you out. I heard him practicing in the mirror."

"Really?" Natasha looked shocked. She thought he just had some small crush on her. "Wow, I didn't know you were such a romantic at heart." She joked, trying to lighten the mood, but Clint looked absolutely mortified.

"Barney, should I show Natasha all your baby pictures?" Harold remarked coolly. The recently-turned seventeen year old just rolled his eyes.

"Clint?" Natasha waited for a response, but he said nothing. Instead, he got up, and silently made his way outside to the front porch.

"Take a joke, bro!" Barney scoffed, but Natasha gave him a dirty look before heading outside herself.

Clint was sitting in the driveway with a depressed look on his face, and, (Surprise, surprise.) he was eating peanuts. Where the heck did he get his unlimited peanut stash?

"Hey." Natasha greeted quietly.

"I must look so stupid now." He laughed humorlessly.

"No. I do know that you secretly enjoyed "Letters to Juliet."" She said, deadpan.

"Not really." He put three peanuts in his mouth.

"How can you eat those and not get fat?" Natasha wondered aloud. She'd always thought that, ever since he started being obsessed with any sort of nut in sixth grade.

"I work out a lot and I have a fast metabolism." He responded.

"Cashews are better." Natasha really wasn't good with awkward situations, so pointless remarks were always the solution. She gazed forward and noticed the sun was setting. Lovely.

"Whatever." Clint mumbled. He turned and looked at her. "You look so perfect." He then realized that he said that aloud.

Natasha didn't know what to say to that. What are you supposed to say when your best friend is completely head-over-heels for you?

She turned to him. Bad idea. He began leaning close to her but stopped inches away from her face.

"I'm sorry, Nat." He rose and ran inside.

"This dinner was a disaster." She groaned, and feeling really awkward and somewhat unwelcome, she left their property and headed off.

-/-/-/-/-/

Steve was texting his uncle on his old Motorola Razr when he received an incoming call. From a blocked number.

"Hello?" He answered it.

"Hey Steve." The familiar voice on the other end responded.

"Tony! What's up?" Poor, unassuming Steve said happily.

"Uh, the sky." His voice sounded hoarse, almost like...

"Tony, have you been crying? Are you alright?" Steve immediately went into boyfriend-defense mode.

"I'm fine. I really am. I'll be back."

"Tony, what are you talking about?" Steve said, confused and worried.

"Don't worry. I'm not trying to hurt you. I..." He paused. "I love you." Steve heard his voice breaking.

"Tony-" Steve was almost speechless when his boyfriend hung up. "I think I love you too." He mumbled to himself.

-/-/-

Tony cried. A lot. All the angry tears and the sad tears that he hadn't cried when he really needed to. The sad tears for leaving his boyfriend and the angry tears for his father and the whole stupid town and their homophobia.

He walked along the street in some neighborhood he'd ended up in a while ago. All the houses where he could see in the front windows and see the happy little families like some cliché movie scene. It was even raining. He was glad that the suit was 100% water resistant and waterproof.

"Tony Stark?" He turned and saw a familiar face, which was sure surprising for being in Brooklyn.

"Hey Peggy." He said sadly.

"Ohmigosh, what are you doing in Brooklyn? Come in, you're probably freezing." Peggy said in a somewhat motherly voice.

Tony wasn't cold, but he went in anyway.

"Where are your parents?" He asked in a flat tone, he wasn't very interested.

"My dad's helping a friend down the street patch up a leak in his roof, Mum's having dinner with friends. What happened? Is Steve alright? Why are you in Brooklyn?" She asked breathlessly, concern in her voice.

"My dad found out about me and Steve being together, the school hates me, and I ran away. Steve's fine." He muttered.

"You daft idiot! Steve's not fine! If you ran away, he's as far from fine as he can be!" Peggy reprimanded.

"Yeah, we'll he's better off without me." Tony said coldly.

Peggy glanced out to the rain. "Follow me." She grabbed her coat and umbrella and gestured for him to follow her, after quickly scrawling a note to her dad.

Tony reluctantly followed, wondering why he didn't just fly off.

-/-/-/-/

Peggy led him to a small house a few streets away.

"What are we doing here?" He said over the sound of the pouring rain.

"Come inside." He noticed at the 'For Sale' sign in the yard and followed her as she climbed through the window around the back of the house.

The house was still furnished. There was a old-looking couch in the living room with a small television set and some books on a coffee table. A small plastic table with two foldable chairs sat in the dining room. Peggy led him to a room with an open door.

"Go on in." She said. Tony walked in. This whole place reminded him of someone.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"Don't you know?"

"Steve's old house." Tony said sadly, Peggy nodded.

"He lived here with his father, whenever his dad wasn't working, which was a lot of the time." Peggy murmured.

"Why did you being me here?" Tony asked, confused.

"Look around." She waved a hand around the room. There were a few pictures on the wall, but they were torn or the glass was cracked on the frames. There were quite a few broken objects lying around the room as well.

"This place looks awful." He stated.

"He left when he got the news of his dad's death. He didn't take anything but his clothes and cell phone. His uncle gave him a laptop and everything else." Peggy paused and looked around, her face passive. "This is what happens when Steve loses something he loves. He tries to block it out, forget about it, pretend it never existed." She walked to the empty closet and grabbed a big book and flipped it open.

"That's his family?" Tony sat next to her on the wooden floor.

"Yes. His mother, father, and him on his tenth birthday. That was shortly before she died." Peggy said, showing him a picture halfway through the book.

"Man, he was a scrawny kid." Tony chuckled despite himself.

"This is him after his mother's death." She showed him a picture a page or two after. The small, smiling kid was barely recognizable.

"What did he eat?" Tony asked, observing the practically shrinking stature of his boyfriend as the pages went on.

"Nothing. He missed so much school, he refused to eat, he was depressed." Peggy flipped forward. "This is when he started coming out of his shell again. He actually nearly ended up in the hospital from malnutrition. Thankfully he started eating again and he began talking to his friends again." Tony thought Steve looked happier, and healthier.

She closed the book.

"I was looking at those." He muttered.

"I don't care. This is what will happen if you don't go back to him. He'll end up like this! Do you really want that?" Peggy asked incredulously.

"No, I don't. I don't want his life being a complete nightmare because of being with me. I want him to forget about me, I'm the worst thing that can happen to anyone." Tony said in frustration.

"You're just afraid of commitment, you're afraid of being with him. You can't bear the thought of hurting him, yes, but you also can't bear the thought of maybe, once in your life, actually showing some feelings, because then you're vulnerable. Then you can be hurt, and you're scared to death of that!" Peggy spat and stalked to the door. "Why don't you sit here and think about what you're doing to the guy you love?" Peggy stormed outside.

Tony sat there for the rest of the night. She was right. He was afraid of being vulnerable. He was afraid of being in love.

But it was too late. He may be a teenager, but he was hopelessly in love with his boyfriend of two weeks. He loved the way his hair felt when Tony ran his fingers through it. He loved the adorable blush that appeared on his face whenever Tony flirted with him in public. He loved the way he got all defensive whenever someone shot a dirty look in Tony's direction. He loved the way their lips fit perfectly together. He loved Steve.

He couldn't go back. Not yet. So instead, he sat cross legged on the floor and flipped through the photos of Steve and his family.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. Reviews make me bounce around like Pinkie Pie on a sugar high. xD Hope you liked it. Tell me what you like, would like to see more of, and what you don't like. Your opinions matter. :D


	19. Thor is Jealous & Tony is Sorry

A.N. Wow, all the reviews I got last chapter... WOW. (I'm totally using that word too much, hehe.) In return, I'm giving you the link to an awesome story written by my awesome sister. She gives me tons of ideas for this story, example: Loki getting hit by a car. Haha. No, she's really very helpful. Her username is currently "TheLlamaWriter". (Hehe, totally awesome, I know.) Her story is a Medieval AU. A *Stony* medieval AU. Oh yeah. You better go read it.

Link: www . fanfiction s/8243022/1/

It's called "Out of the Dragon's Flame and into the Fire". I really am loving it right now, and she's just getting started. :D Remove the spaces and you're good to go.

Here's the next chapter. :D

Chapter 19

Two days had passed since Steve had seen Tony. It was Wednesday, and he had no clue why his boyfriend wasn't at school, or why he hadn't texted him back or answered his calls.

So, that's why he was walking to the Starks' humongous mansion after school on instead of lounging about in his living room watching cheesy old movies with Thor like he usually did on Wednesday afternoons. He would've been here yesterday, but he figured that maybe Tony just needed some time alone after everyone figured out that they were together.

He rang the doorbell and waited.

Maria, a very exhausted looking Maria, answered the door.

"Steve. What can I do for you?" She said with a small smile. Steve could tell something was wrong.

"Is Tony here? He hasn't been at school." Steve asked, a bit concerned.

"Oh, well..." Maria looked like she was trying to think but Howard came up behind her.

"It's alright dear, I'll explain it to him." Howard told her.

Steve was worried. Was Tony dead? Kidnapped? Grounded for life?

"Hello, sir. I was wondering if I could see Tony." Steve asked nervously.

"No. He's not here." Howard said in a cold voice.

"Oh, um, could you tell him that I visited when he's back?"

"Well, no, because he's not coming back. He's run away," Howard said in a calm voice.

"What? Why?" Steve's eyes went wide.

"Because of you." He replied.

"M-me?" Steve sounded like he was choking.

"Yes. See, he realized that he didn't like you as much as he thought, in fact, he wanted to break up with you. But he was too afraid to break your heart, so instead he ran away," Howard's voice was hard. Steve couldn't speak, so he continued. "I'm currently tracking his whereabouts, I'll make sure to tell him that you'll be leaving him alone when I find him."

"Sir, are you sure you aren't mistaken?" Steve managed to force himself to say,

"Positive. You've ruined my son's life, and you are no longer welcome here. Now get out." Howard ordered slowly.

"I-"

"Get out!" He yelled and slammed the door.

Steve couldn't believe this. His fault... His fault that Tony had run away. He should never have fallen for him.

He slowly began the walk back to his house, even though he knew it would take him an hour to get back, he didn't want to bother his uncle with driving him back.

-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha was at the hospital, visiting Loki, again. She had visited him after the disastrous dinner on Monday, and she found herself talking to him, though he was always unconscious.

"Yeah, Clint and I haven't said a word to each other since Monday night. I'm surprised Thor and Steve haven't noticed," She rolled her eyes. "Boys."

Loki was laying there, looking rather peaceful. Natasha couldn't help but stare. He never looked like this when he was awake. A scowl or bored look was usually present on his face at school, but when he lived with Natasha for that short time, he actually had a smile on his face a lot of the time. He never looked like this.

Natasha wondered if she'd ever see him smile again.

"Anyways," She cleared her throat. "I forgot to tell you something on Monday. Clint tried to kiss me. That's why the dinner ended so badly. Not because his brother was being a jerk, well, partly because of that. But the attempted kiss really took the cake." She let out a sigh and wondered if she should continue. No one could hear her, so why not. "I guess I could have kissed him, but I really didn't want to. He's my best friend, but I don't like him like that. The truth is..." She paused before hearing a discreet (And familiar.) cough from the doorway. Natasha spun her head around and saw Thor and a girl he'd been hanging out with since Monday.

"Thor, who's your girlfriend?" She said, pretending not to be surprised by his arrival.

The girl, who was shorter than him by quite a bit, seemed to want to shrink even more.

"Nat, she's not my girlfriend. She's Jane's cousin, Darcy." He said with a smile.

"Hey." Darcy said with a wave, now recovering from her mild embarrassment.

"Hi." Natasha said simply.

"We came to visit Loki. Guess you're already here." Thor raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I uh, wanted to see how he was doing." Natasha found herself lost for a random excuse.

"So, this is your brother?" Darcy said, walking over to him.

"Yeah, that's Loki. Usually he'd be making snarky comments but um, he's a little incapacitated at the moment. He hasn't woken up except for a few seconds, but he was disoriented and he went a little wacko, so they knocked him back out. They say he's healing up well though, and he'll probably wake up in awhile." Thor said, still looking curiously at Natasha, who squirmed nervously.

"Cool. He's cute." Darcy stated.

"No, he's not!" Thor and Natasha protested in unison.

"Whatever." Darcy shrugged and looked closer. "Hello." She said a bit loudly.

Thor was about to chastise her but stopped when Loki opened his eyes and slowly sat up.

"Well I feel like crap." Loki stated blatantly, his voice hoarse.

Natasha couldn't help herself, she threw her arms around his neck.

"Ow." He grumbled, but he had a small smile on his face.

"You're alive!" Thor boomed with a smile on his face and hugged both Loki and Natasha.

"Of course I'm alive." Loki rolled his eyes as they both pulled away.

Natasha hit him on his shoulder after she stopped hugging him.

"What was that for?" He muttered.

"For throwing yourself in front of a car," Natasha scolded. "But you did save me. Guess I owe you one."

"No, I do believe we're even. You did let me stay at your house for quite some time." Loki said, laying back down.

"Whoa, did I miss something?" Darcy looked confused.

"Who are you?" Loki asked.

"Darcy Lewis. I woke you up. It wasn't that hard, don't know why these guys didn't try it." She scoffed.

"Well, nice to meet you." Loki responded tiredly.

A doctor walked into the room and ushered them out, muttering something about questions and Loki needing rest.

"I better text my parents, they'll want to hear about this." Thor said happily and pulled out his phone.

"How'd you get them to let Darcy in with you?" Natasha asked, glancing back at the hospital room and wishing she could have stayed.

"It wasn't hard, I just told them that she was my sister. I don't think they cared, to be honest." He shrugged as he finished the text and sent it.

"So, your brother's cool." Darcy announced.

"Oh, yeah." Thor didn't sound that enthusiastic.

"What? You jealous?" Darcy teased.

"Absolutely not!" Thor said indignantly.

"Okay then." Darcy nodded, not really believing him.

"Thor, do you think they'll let him out soon?" Natasha asked.

"I don't know. They said that his injuries were starting to heal up, but it was a pretty severe accident. He'll probably be in there for another week or two." Thor shrugged, studying Darcy.

"Thor, don't be so obviously jealous." Natasha whispered to him.

"I'm not jealous!" He announced loudly. Natasha just scoffed.

-/-/-/-/-/

Clint didn't know what to do. He figured that his friendship with Natasha was ruined forever. It would always be awkward and it was his fault. He tried to kiss her. He shouldn't have.

She hadn't said a word to him for two days. Two whole days. They were best friends. He shot another arrow at the fence. He'd found himself doing that a lot lately.

"Hey Bro," He was half tempted to shoot an arrow into his brother. "Nat's here to see you."

"What?" Clint laid down his archery supplies.

"Yeah, good luck." Barney winked. Clint just rolled his eyes and went to the door.

"Hey." Natasha greeted. She was standing there with Thor and that girl that Thor had been hanging out with. He didn't know her name.

"Hi. What's up?" Clint asked, happy that she was talking to him.

"Darcy, Thor, and I were going to go to that diner across town," Thor jingled the keys to his parents' car. "For dinner. We were wondering if you wanted to come with us." Natasha smiled.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be right back." He said quickly and went to his backyard to put his bow and other equipment away.

"Hey, you got a date?" Barney asked as Clint was walking towards the front door again.

"No Barney. Shut up. I'll be back later, I'm going out for dinner with friends." He replied with emphasis on 'friends'.

"Have fun."

-/-/-/-/-/

Peggy was walking home from school when she received a text from Steve.

"Hey Peggy, I need some advice. Tony ran away and its my fault." She read to herself and stopped walking.

"Don't worry Steve, I'll help, but I have to go deal with something." She muttered to herself and stalked off to his old, used to be abandoned, house.

-/-/

"What the heck, Tony!" She yelled when we walked into Steve's old room.

He was sitting on the ground, surrounded by empty donut boxes and coffee cups, flipping through Steve's photo book.

"What?" He said. Peggy wondered how uncomfortable that suit must be after a while.

"Why are you still here?" She demanded.

"Well, my dad hates me, therefore the whole town hates me, so I'd rather stay here and eat Dunkin' Donuts until my life ends." He muttered.

"First off," Peggy began. "You're a teenager. You can't live on your own. Second, eventually someone will buy this old house and you'll have to leave, and third, Steve thinks it's *his* fault you ran away. He just sent me three more texts!" She read them aloud.

""I went to his house and Mr. Stark told me Tony wanted to break up with me, but he couldn't because he was too afraid to break my heart, so he ran away instead. Mr. Stark doesn't want me coming around ever again and I feel so awful. What should I do?"" She finished. Tony looked up, and he looked angry.

"My dad... He lied. It was his fault I left, not Steve's! I love Steve, I would never do that!" Tony burst out.

"You say you love him, then why are you sitting here and wallowing in self pity? Get yourself back to Avengers before your stupid suit runs out of power, and beg him to take you back!" Peggy ordered.

Toby looked at the ground for a minute before giving in. "Fine." He stormed downstairs and crawled out the window before flying off.

"Well, I hope that ends well." Peggy said, satisfied that he left.

-/-/-/-/-/

Steve was feeling awful. He could have gone with his friends to that diner for dinner, but he really didn't feel like it. His uncle was concerned, but he left him alone.

Peggy still wasn't responding to his texts. He wished she would. She was probably the only one that wouldn't say or think, "I told you so."

"Steve, you have a visitor." His uncle poked his head in the doorway.

"Okay." Steve muttered and walked downstairs and opened the door.

"Hey Steve." Tony was in the armored suit that he wore at the party.

"Tony, it's fine. Your dad told me, I understand-" Steve was interrupted.

"No, he lied," Tony protested. "I would never break up with you, I really do have feelings for you."

"Right, then why did you run away?" Steve said quietly.

"Because he didn't approve. In fact, he was disgusted by it. As was pretty much the whole school. I was being selfish. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." He said with sincerity in his voice.

"I don't know." Steve muttered.

"I was wrong, I know that. Peggy helped me see what I was doing was stupid. Very, very, stupid. Who cares what everyone else thinks of me being in love with you? I think I've always worried too much about what everyone thinks. I don't care anymore. You have to believe me." Tony begged.

"You really don't care what they think?" Steve said after a long pause, he was trying to piece together where Tony had been and what had happened.

"No, I don't. They could think that I deserve to be thrown out of town and I *wouldn't* care. Trust me." Tony said.

"Okay, I trust you." Steve said, finally.

"So we're back together?" Tony asked.

"We were never not together."

"Okay then." Tony stood there for a moment.

"Hey, my friends are going to this diner we really like for dinner, want to go meet up with them?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, I know what diner you're talking about. I'll meet you there, I have to go, uh, change." He gestured to his suit before blasting off.

"See you then." Steve was glad that this town was small enough to walk to places, and the diner wasn't that far away.

As he walked back inside to tell his uncle where he was going, he noticed that Tony had left something behind. He picked the book up and studied it with a small smile.

"Rogers' Family Photos"

-/-/-/-/

Tony literally dropped into his house. They hadn't repaired the giant hole he left in the roof to the basement, so he hopefully could just drop in and get this suit off, (Which took quite some time.) and meet up with Steve, avoiding the conversation he was inevitably going to have with his parents.

He had just gotten the suit off when he remembered that he had to get to his bedroom to change. Figures.

"JARVIS, can I get to my room unnoticed by my dad at the moment?" Tony asked the AI.

"Your father is currently in the study, he will not notice your presence unless he hears you." JARVIS responded.

"Thanks." Tony walked up the first set of stairs, then the next set of stairs, and he was almost to his room when he was spotted.

"Tony?"

"Mom, hi." Tony said.

"I thought you weren't coming back." She hugged him.

"Uh, choking, not breathing." Maria let him go.

"You're being melodramatic, Mom. Of course I'd come back." He grinned despite the fact that he really wished he could get out of here.

"I'm so sorry about your father. He does love you, Tony." Maria said.

"Mom, I'm going on a date with Steve, and I really don't want to talk about this right now." He responded.

"Of course," She looked lovingly at her son. "But promise me you won't run away again."

"I promise." Tony assured before leaving to change.

Maria decided to go distract Howard and help Tony out. She loved both her son and husband, but sometimes, sometimes they could be so stubborn. Neither of them wanted to raise that white flag. She wondered how long this argument would last.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hey!" Steve rushed up to his friends who were walking into the diner.

"Steve! We didn't think you were coming!" Thor said happily.

"Hey, I'm Darcy." A girl with glasses that Steve had noticed hanging around with Thor introduced herself.

"Steve Rogers." Steve said and looked around for one of the cars that the Starks' had hired drivers for, and spotted one pulling into the parking lot of the small diner.

"Thanks, and don't tell my dad where I am." Tony said to the driver who simply nodded and drove off.

"Hi Stark, you've been MIA for a few days." Clint said as Tony walked over.

"Yeah, Brooklyn's pretty nice this time of year." Tony said, offering no other explanation. They left him alone about it.

"Hey, are you two like, together?" Darcy said.

"Oh, uh, Tony and I?" Steve said and glanced to his boyfriend.

"Yeah, we're together." Tony grinned and Steve nodded.

"Cool. I knew that." She announced.

"Uh, how?" Tony asked.

"Well, I have a gaydar." Darcy grinned proudly.

"What the heck is a 'gaydar'?" Natasha asked.

"It's a radar that picks up gay people. It went crazy when Steve walked up and even more crazy when that guy - Uh, Tony- walked up. Therefore they're together." She explained.

"I'm not gay! I'm bisexual." Tony pointed out.

"Yeah, whatever. You're gay for Steve so, ha." Darcy stuck her tongue out.

"Okay, let's just get a table." Natasha rolled her eyes and they went into the diner.

-/-/-/-/

A.N. Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a review if you don't mind, even three words make me happy. I love to hear your opinions, ideas, and all that. :D

Also, I'm probably going to change my username to "TheSwanWriter". Just so you know. :)


	20. The Fan of Steve and Thor the SPN Fan

A.N. I did indeed change my username to "TheSwanWriter." I am still myself, I was not hacked, I just wanted to change it. :)

And, um, I am very sorry to say that I'm planning the ending. But hopefully not for another 5-10 chapters. When I do end it, would you want a sequel? Haha, I don't know, I just can't stop the inspiration from flowing. xD But, I might write the Supernatural Destiel AU I've been planning for awhile. I dunno.

Sorry, go ahead and read the next chapter. xD

Edit: I realized, writing this at midnight when I'm exhausted is a really REALLY bad idea. I went back through and fixed the mistakes that I noticed.

Chapter 20

When they finally succeeded in getting a table in the busy diner, the time was 6:13 and everyone was starving. (Mainly Thor, Tony, and Clint, because he's always hungry.)

A young and flustered-looking waiter came to take their order. As Thor was ordering his favorite dish, deluxe nachos, Steve realized that he knew their waiter from somewhere.

"Hey, do you go to Stark High?" Steve asked.

"It's the only high school here." Tony pointed out but the guy looked at Steve, surprised.

"I didn't expect you to know me, and yeah, I do." He said, looking pleased. "Phil Coulson. I'm a freshman."

Steve started to introduce himself. "I'm-"

"Steve Rogers. Yeah, I know lots about you." Phil said proudly, with a look of admiration on his face.

"Uh, okay then." Steve looked back to his menu.

Tony looked at Phil, then at Steve, then at Phil.

"I'll have the bacon cheeseburger with fries." Tony ordered, glaring at the fourteen year old with one of those expressions that would best be described with the "If looks could kill, he/she would've died right there." line.

"Okay..." Phil wrote it down quickly.

"I'll have the same as Thor." Darcy announced. Clint and Natasha looked at her. "What?"

"Well, Thor's the only one who can ever actually eat those. He didn't order lunch today just so he could actually finish those." Clint snickered at the surprised look on Thor's face.

"I'm hungry, and I bet I can finish them too." She said.

Phil glanced at the three who hadn't ordered yet.

Natasha ordered a double cheeseburger and Clint ordered a triple burger with extra cheese.

Steve looked at his boyfriend. "What should I get?"

Tony looked thoughtful. "Don't ask me, Stevie."

"Stevie?" Steve muttered, scanning the menu.

"Yeah, I'm trying out nicknames to see which one I like best, Rogers."

"Last names? Really, Tony? I'll have the same as him." Steve finally decided.

Phil wrote it down and left them alone.

"I don't like him." Tony muttered.

"Who, Phil? Why not?" Steve asked.

"Uh, his first name is 'Waiter.'" Tony said sulkily.

"Why? 'Cause he looked like a twelve year old schoolgirl when he saw Steve?" Darcy wondered.

"He did?" Thor chuckled.

"Aw Tony, don't be jealous if your boyfriend's got a little admirer." Natasha said, teasingly.

"Really guys? He was being nice, come on." Steve scoffed.

"Yeah, right." Clint nodded slowly.

"I think you all need to quit being 'Becky's and 'Mary-Margaret's." Steve rolled his eyes, but Tony just sat there, dejectedly sipping his soda.

-/-/-/-/-/

Thirty minutes later, Clint, Nat, Steve, and Tony were all watching Thor and Darcy waiting to see who would finish their gigantic plate of nachos first.

Thor had eaten two-thirds, Darcy had eaten half.

"You win. I can't eat anymore." She finally gave up and sunk into the booth with a sigh.

"Victory!" Thor shouted happily as proceeded to dump the rest of her plate on his own.

"Yeah man, good luck eating all that." Clint said. Thor just shrugged and went back to his plate while Darcy drank her soda, very slowly.

"So, I noticed you had my family's old photo book when you got back from, I'm guessing, Brooklyn. Did you look at it?" Steve asked Tony the question he'd been asking himself since Tony had returned two hours ago.

"Yeah. Did you really wear that old military helmet everywhere you went when you were in preschool?" Tony asked.

"Oh no," Steve groaned, a blush appearing on his cheeks. "You saw that?"

"Yes, I did." Tony grinned cheekily.

"What'd I miss in this conversation?" Natasha asked, she was watching Clint try and hold up ice cubes from his empty glass using his straw.

"Well, apparently, Steve's dad was a captain in the army. He had this old helmet that Steve used to walk around in all the time when he was four. I only know this because his mother was an avid amateur photographer." Tony explained.

"Ah." Natasha went back to watching Clint.

"Captain Steve, there's a nickname for you. Wearing the captain's old helmet and all." Tony said thoughtfully.

"That's no nickname, it's too long." Darcy pointed out.

"Good point... How about 'Captain'?" Tony suggested.

"Tony, what's the whole point of this?" Steve said.

"All the couples have to have cute nicknames for each other." Tony declared.

"Okay. Good luck with that." Steve said, although he was amused by it.

"Cap! There we go. I like it. Cap." Tony stared at Steve, waiting for his opinion.

"Huh, I actually like that. It's catchy, or whatever." Steve said fondly.

"Okay, Cap." Tony put special emphasis on the nickname.

Phil came back with the bill and handed it to Thor, who decided all the dinner was on him.

"I'm proud of you, Darcy." Thor randomly announced as he paid in cash.

"Thanks. What'd I do?" She added.

"You attempted to eat the entire plate of nachos, and you accepted defeat graciously."

"Is this how everyone talks in England?" Darcy asked, but she had a proud look on her face.

"No, just me." Thor replied.

"We leaving now?" Clint asked, blowing at Natasha's hair through his straw, just to annoy her.

"Yeah, we should probably head out." Tony said, looking rather depressed with that idea.

"Don't worry, I'm sure if you just ignore your dad, it'll be fine." Steve whispered in a reassuring tone as they left the diner. Clint and Natasha left with Darcy and Thor in his car, but Tony and Steve decided to walk home together.

"I wish." Tony replied.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve's house was closer to the diner than Tony's, so Tony walked him home before heading to his house.

He got the spare key from around the back to unlock the house but was surprised when it was already unlocked.

"Oh Mom, you didn't." He groaned when he saw his parents waiting for him at the base of the stairs.

"Yes, I did tell your father, and he has something to tell you." Maria gave an expecting look to her husband.

"I don't want to hear it unless he really means it." Tony grumbled, not looking at his father.

Howard cleared his throat and looked at his son.

"Tony, I am sorry for acting as I did when I discovered the nature of your relationship with Steve. It wasn't right, neither was the way you acted-" Maria shook her head at him. "Both of us were wrong. You're my son, and I am proud of you no matter what, I just have trouble showing it." He looked like he was choking but Maria gestured for him to continue. "I am very pleased with your accomplishments and I love you. Now, can we not fight anymore?" He finished.

"Yeah, whatever." Tony just slid past his parents and went upstairs.

"That went so well." Howard put his face in his hands.

"Perhaps you should invite Steve over as a gesture of goodwill." Maria said, attempting to be helpful.

"I don't want him coming over here when I'm around." Howard said adamantly.

"Howard, how can you expect him to forgive you when you still act this way?" She replied.

"I never asked him to forgive me, I just asked if we could stop fighting." He stalked up the stairs.

Maria sat down on the bottom step and huffed. Why did they have to be so stubborn?

"Maria, dear, don't forget to start planning the Thanksgiving dinner, I really want to be prepared this time, I don't care if it's a month away." Howard said, popping back in quickly. "You can have Tony invite Bruce and Pepper over, then you can invite a friend or two." He reminded before leaving.

"Fine then." Maria strode to the study to begin planning.

"Bruce, Pepper," She mumbled aloud as she wrote them down on the invites list. "Friends of mine? What friend would I actually want to invite to Thanksgiving this year?" She thought back on most of their haughty behavior at the last party she invited them to. A friend or two... Any friend.

Maria smiled and wrote down a name. Howard could suck it up and deal with her choice, he probably wouldn't show up anyway, she thought.

Now to plan the menu...

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Bruce was glad that Tony was finally answering his texts. He was worried he might have actually run away. (He'd done it once before, but it lasted like, two hours.)

Why did no one ever talk to him? He spent most of his time studying and reading, which he enjoyed, but it felt like sometimes he had no friends, even Tony.

Oh well, he'd dealt with it most of his life. He wasn't exactly a likable person to most people, when they saw him get angry they pretty much dropped any connection with him.

Tony always thought it was cool.

He folded his reading glasses and sat at his desk for a few moments before his mother came in and said good night.

He fiddled with his phone before deciding to text Pepper.

"Pepper, what's up?"

"Nothin much. Is Tony alright?"

"Yeah, he came back."

"I was worried."

"You're not the only one, Pepper. Steve was worried too."

"Yah, I guess so. Were u worried?"

Yeah, yeah he was. "No, I knew he'd come back."

"Ur always so sure of stuff. How do u do that?"

Lying, Pepper. Really. "I just know Tony. We've been friends since Rhodey left in 2nd grade."

"Yeah. Ur his best friend."

"Nice to know that someone thinks that." Bruce muttered to himself. "Thanks." was all he texted.

"I GTG. TTY tomorrow, kk?"

"Sure." He typed and put his phone away.

He really didn't have any friends...

"Hey, whatcha doin?"

Bruce was surprised when he actually received a text without sending one first, and this time it was from Tony.

"Not much. You?"

"Wishing my dad wasn't such a 1 !$/&"

"Tony, my phone still has the censor on it."

"Whatever."

Bruce rolled his eyes but he found himself smiling anyway. "So, how're things with Steve?"

"Good, we went on like a triple date. I think Nat isn't with Clint, though, so double date plus two."

"Cool. I sat home and did nothing." Bruce texted back.

"That sucks. Wanna hang out after school tomorrow?"

"Sure." Bruce thought it probably wouldn't last, Tony would want to hang out with his boyfriend, and he'd probably forget that he made any plans with him, but it was nice that he thought of it.

"Cool. I better go do my homework."

"Didn't you do it already?"

"No, I forgot. Bye, Bruce."

"Bye, Tony." Bruce was disappointed he left so quickly. He missed hanging out with Tony as much as they used to. He wondered if it was because of what happened at the party. That was an old crush, but Tony might still be freaked out by it. And was it really still old?

Bruce went to go get ready for bed, pushing whatever thoughts were occupying his mind out of it.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Thor, I'm never going to eat those nachos ever again." Darcy decided to Thor, as she was still feeling extremely full. They were both hanging out at his house instead of her going home. Her parents were fine with it, apparently they'd heard so many nice things about Thor and his family from Jane and the rest of her side of the family, that their fifteen year old daughter hanging out with him all the time didn't bother them.

"Aw, but you looked so cute while eating them." Thor said teasingly while surfing through the channels on the TV.

"Cute?" Darcy looked up at him from her position at the end of the couch.

"Um... Hey, it's a full moon tonight!" Thor said, changing the subject because he knew how much Darcy liked the moon.

Darcy looked out the window quickly. "No it's not."

"It was behind a cloud, I thought it was." Thor said simply and continued looking at the TV.

"We should watch "Supernatural" on Netflix." Darcy announced, ignoring Thor's comment, much to his relief.

"Sure... Whatever it is." Thor agreed.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"His girlfriend is DEAD?" Thor said in a choking voice as they finished the first episode of "Supernatural."

"Yup. Bye-bye, Jess." Darcy replied.

"That poor guy! What kind of show is this?" Thor demanded.

"It's a CW show. Whenever you ask yourself a question about how weird or how nonsensical this show is, just tell yourself, "It's a CW show." It explains it all." Darcy said seriously.

"Alright then..." Thor paused. "Let's watch the next episode!"

"Thor, it's almost ten o'clock. Shouldn't I be getting home?" Darcy asked.

"Nope. Now hurry up and play it or we're watching "Doctor Who!"" Thor grinned.

"I like "Doctor Who."" Darcy replied as she started the next episode.

"Really? I would never know that you're related to Jane." Thor laughed.

"Yeah, why?" Darcy figured she knew what he was going to say, all the family remarked on it. Who cares if they weren't close family? Darcy was sarcastic, Jane was sweet. Darcy often drifted into daydreams, Jane always was imaginative but always kept her feet on the ground. The only thing they ever noticed about Darcy that was 'better' than Jane, was the fact that she noticed things before everyone else. Jane was always humble about it, and she didn't like it any more than Darcy did.

"She *hated* "Doctor Who", she didn't like nachos or really large meals in general, and you two don't look *anything* alike." He listed, eyes glued to the television screen.

"Yeah, everyone says she's prettier than me." Darcy rolled her eyes.

"No, you're just a different kind of pretty." Thor said, looking at her quickly.

"What's-"

"Shh! I'm going to miss something important if I don't watch carefully." He replied quickly.

Darcy sighed, she doubted she was ever going to get a straight answer out of the British teen.

-/-/-/-/

Darcy drifted to sleep during the fourth episode of "Supernatural", and when she woke up, it was 6:30 in the morning and Thor wasn't on the couch anymore. She heard someone in the kitchen and found him there.

"Making breakfast?" Darcy asked.

"You like toast? The last time I made pancakes, it didn't end very well." Thor was remembering the mess he, Natasha, and Clint made at Steve's house.

"Sure. Where are your parents?" She asked.

"Gone at work already." He answered.

"So, how is it possible to look cute while eating messy and cheesy nachos?" She asked casually.

"Oh, yeah. Um, you just looked rather adorable, trying not to make too much of a mess and failing." Thor replied, really wishing he hadn't said anything.

"And 'a different kind of pretty?'" She continued.

"Friendly comment." He smiled.

"Right." Darcy didn't really believe him; Maybe he liked her, more than a friend. But if he did, he was too stubborn to admit it.

Darcy, being the awesome girl she was, began to formulate a plan in her mind.

-/-/

A.N. Another chapter. Jolly good! Hope it was great!

I'd love if you'd leave a review! :D As I said before, even just two or three words is great!


	21. Schools Do Serve Shawarma

A.N. Oh my gosh, I got so many reviews! :D Thanks SO much, you guys! You're all 100% pure awesome.

I am sorry that this chapter was a little late. xP

Chapter 21

Thursdays were probably Tony's new least favorite day.

Breakfast was very awkward. Maria tried to make pleasant conversation, but neither Tony or Howard indulged her. Thankfully, Howard had to leave early because of work, so Tony was able to enjoy half of his waffles and bacon.

Maria, however, was disappointed the whole morning. Simply because of the behavior of her husband and son.

She knew that Howard wasn't truly sorry. His attitude was probably 12% sorry, 88% couldn't-care-less-it's-all-someone-else's-fault. She also knew that Tony wasn't going to apologize for running away, because he wasn't sorry either.

They needed to patch things up, but she couldn't talk to either of them. When she talked to Howard, he changed the subject to Thanksgiving, work, or the weather. Tony just gave halfhearted replies and refused to cooperate with her efforts.

She was trying to help, she really was, but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Tony put his plate in the sink and left for school right after, giving Maria no time to say anything besides a quick "Good-bye, love you, have a nice day at school!"

She had to figure some way to patch things up between them.

Maybe she could enlist Steve's help...

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony was so sick of his father's behavior, so he was immensely glad when he escaped the most awkward breakfast of October and arrived at school. Tony was greeted by a quick kiss on the cheek from his boyfriend, plus poorly disguised disgusted looks, but he didn't care about them.

As he and Steve were walking towards the doors, they heard quick footsteps behind them. Tony got a quick glance and groaned.

"It's that nerd from the diner." He mumbled to Steve.

"Hey Phil." Steve greeted in his typical polite and good-natured voice.

Phil was usually a very collected if not extremely mature fourteen year old, (That's what happens when you live with parents like his.) but he acted like a silly little fanboy around Steve.

"You remembered me?" Phil looked at him, surprised.

"Of course." Steve responded.

"Hi Steve. Hey, do you guys think I can hang out with you at lunch? I don't really have any other friends. I usually sit with Miss Hill, but I think she's called in sick today." Phil asked, attempting to be super casual.

"You sit with Miss Hill? A teacher?" Tony looked amused.

"Yeah, I don't think my friends will mind if you sit with us. Neither will Tony. Will you, Tony?" Steve looked at said teenager and gave him a look.

"Sure!" Tony said with an overenthusiastic smile.

"Great. I better get to class. See you guys later." Phil turned and left.

"Steve!" Tony whined. "I don't want the nerdy fanboy to sit with us."

"Tony, he doesn't have any friends. He sits with a teacher. The least we can do is let him sit with us." Steve said.

"Fine, but I don't like him." Tony grumbled as they entered the building and went to their lockers.

"I'm not even going to ask why." Steve replied, pulling his textbooks out of his locker.

"We better go." Tony closed his locker. He didn't want to talk about Coulson and the crush he had on *his* Steve.

His? Pfft, Steve wasn't anyone's. Tony buried that thought as soon as it popped up. They were just together. Dating. It's not like they were in love or anything. Nope. Tony said that all because of stress, nothing else.

"You and your friends are sitting with us, right?" Steve asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, I can't let Phil steal you away while I'm eating my favorite lunch, it'd ruin it forever."

"Okay." Steve said in more of a question than a statement. What was Tony talking about? Phil didn't have a crush on him.

-/-/-/-/

Lunch period. Steve was beginning to doubt that. Phil was doing everything for him. He was acting funny, like Peggy did when they were dating.

When the friends were in line, they went in this order: Thor, Clint, Steve, Phil, Natasha, Pepper, Bruce, Tony.

Tony was naturally extremely annoyed and aggravated by being nowhere near his boyfriend, who was already practically at the end of the line.

Phil, however, was simply ecstatic. He did everything for Steve. He even insisted that he'd pay for Steve's lunch. What a little creep.

Tony was mentally throwing darts at a picture of the little creep when Bruce interrupted his thoughts.

"So, we haven't hung out in a while." Bruce remarked as he filled up his tray.

"Been busy. Steve and all that." Tony said, sounding more annoyed than he wanted.

"Is it Phil?" Bruce sighed.

"Bruce, I am not being overprotective of my Ste- boyfriend." Tony hoped he hadn't caught the mistake, and if he did, he ignored it.

"I never said you were. He's fourteen and he's no competition. Steve would never leave you for Phil." Bruce reassured.

Clint was exiting the line and walked past them. "You'd be surprised by what those little guys can do." He shook his head and left for a table.

"What's his problem?" Tony asked. Bruce shrugged.

"But seriously, don't be overprotective." Bruce turned and began talking to Pepper, but he looked rather sad. Tony didn't catch his expression.

"Yeah, I'm so not." He mumbled and finished getting his Shawarma, which didn't look nearly as appetizing as it usually was.

Meanwhile at the table that literally had Thor's name on it, Steve was trying to make conversation with the fourteen year old and failing. "So Phil-"

"I noticed you didn't get a Vitamin Water, but you said to Clint that it was your favorite drink." Phil interrupted.

"They were out, anyways-"

"Here, have mine. I haven't opened it yet." Phil handed it to him, cutting off his sentence yet again.

"Thanks-"

"Hey, don't mind if I do!" Tony slid between them and grabbed the bottle, opening it and downing it quickly.

"Will anyone let me talk?" Steve asked in irritation.

"Sorry." Phil and Tony said in unison. Tony glared at the other kid.

"Hey, why don't we all just get along?" Bruce said as if he was talking to fighting toddlers.

"Wonderful idea, right guys?" Thor said, glancing at his other two friends, Clint and Natasha.

"What did we do?" Nat cocked her eyebrow.

"Nothing. Hey man, knock it off!" Clint reprimanded as Phil and Tony began throwing bits of Shawarma meat at each other.

"Aw Clint, you're taking lessons from me." Natasha teased.

"You were the one who told be to beware of people you like getting crushes on fourteen year olds like-" Tony was whispering to him but stopped when Clint gave him a frantic glance.

"You *what*?" Natasha looked at him, she heard what he said. No one else did.

"Uh, well, nothing." Clint said sheepishly.

"Clint Francis Barton! I do NOT have a crush on LOKI!" It came out a lot less convincing than she hoped. Natasha would've left the cafeteria, but instead she just stared intently at her plate while receiving confused glances from the rest of the school.

Thor snickered.

"What?" Clint asked.

"Your middle name is Francis." Thor continued to snigger.

"My middle name's Edward." Tony said.

"My middle name's Roger." Phil grinned.

Tony shot him a death glare.

Steve put his face in his hands.

-/-/

Pepper wasn't having the best day. At all. She kept sending reassuring glances to Tony about his boyfriend, but he was ignoring her and Bruce.

She also really hated Shawarma.

"So, I'm Pepper Potts. I don't think we've been introduced." She smiled at Phil. Maybe she could make friends with the freshman. If she did, it would aggravate Tony, which would feel rather satisfying.

"I'm Phil Coulson." He introduced himself.

"Do you know everyone here?" She asked, happy with the annoyed look Tony got on his face. She could practically hear his complaining now, "Pepper, you can't converse with the enemy!"

"I just don't know you and your friend. I know all of Steve's friends' names." Pepper thought that was a little creepy, but she didn't mind.

"I'm Bruce Banner." He said in a friendly tone.

Tony couldn't really believe his traitorous friends. They were supposed to support him when he disliked someone. Bruce especially!

Truth was, Bruce was feeling left out too. Tony wasn't even noticing him. So hey, why not give him a taste of his own medicine?

"Nice to meet you. Aren't you the kid that flipped out and beat up that one creep that one time?" Phil asked.

"I think I'm the only one in this school who's ever beat up one of the creeps, so I guess so." He shrugged.

"Ah, okay." He looked a little uncomfortable and went back to Pepper.

Bruce sighed. This always happened. People were scared of him. Phil probably was freaked out that he'd beat him up because he was friends with Tony and Tony didn't like Phil.

Well, Bruce was used to it. He just went back to his Shawarma.

Tony noticed his friend's dejected look. Maybe he should strike up conversation? He'd be a good friend if he did.

He'd never really been a good friend.

"Hey Bruce, wanna hang out this afternoon?" Tony asked.

"With you and your boyfriend? No thanks." Bruce took a bite of food.

"No, just you and me. We're best friends, I really don't want to drift apart." Tony actually sounded genuinely apologetic.

Bruce's face brightened considerably. "Sure, I'd like that."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

After school, Clint, Thor, and Steve were all going to Thor's house to study. Natasha was going to be late, so she made up a lame excuse and walked to the one place she hoped nobody would see her going to.

"Hey." Natasha poked her head in the doorway of Room 207 in the hospital. "Visitors welcome?"

"Yes. I think I'm supposed to be resting, but if you're quiet, they'll never know you're here."

"So, Loki, how's it going?" She sat herself in a chair near the wall.

"I'm bored, and I'm bored, and did I mention I was extremely bored?" Loki stated dryly. "But it does cheer me up to see you."

"You're welcome." Natasha wasn't going to show how happy it made her that he was awake and acting like himself.

He sat up and cleared his throat. "I suppose you got my letter."

"Oh, yeah." She really didn't want to talk about it. Well, she actually did, but she didn't. Natasha was confusing herself.

"I meant every word of it." He replied.

"How can you be so calm about it? You told me you loved me, then that you were leaving town, then you jumped in front of a freakin' car and could've died and I would've never gotten to tell you that I feel the same way!" She burst out breathlessly.

"I didn't think that you did." Loki stated after a period of silence.

"Oh, well I do. So you're wrong for once. Ha ha." She sunk into her seat.

"Well, I don't mind." He answered.

"You always have to have the last word, don't you?" Natasha scoffed.

"Always."

"Well, I'm not going to let you have the last word." She decided.

"Ah. How exactly do you plan to do that?"

"Make you shut up." She responded and got up from her seat.

"You're going to leave, really? Then I'll just be bored again." Loki said with a frown.

"No, but I can't really do this sitting over there." She responded and walked over to the hospital bed.

"Do what?"

"Could you just shut up and let me kiss you?" She leaned in and gently pressed her lips onto his.

-/-/-/-/

Clint, of course, didn't believe Natasha's weird excuse. She didn't have any extended family in the area, so there wasn't any reason why she would be cleaning her grandmother's garage. She must have been in a hurry, or she would've had come up with a better excuse.

So he followed her. Clint wasn't really surprised when they ended up at the hospital. Of course she'd want to visit Loki. It just made sense.

Clint listened to their conversation from outside the room until her outburst.

His face fell. She did feel the same way for him. He knew it, but he never wanted to admit it.

So when he looked inside a few moments later and saw them kissing, he wasn't surprised. Just incredibly hurt. That was Natasha's first kiss. The kiss he wanted to have with her. It was with Loki instead.

They pulled away and Loki said something that made her look to the window where Clint was watching.

"You better go talk to him." Loki suggested.

"Yeah, I, uh..." Natasha looked reluctant to leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Okay, bye Loki." Natasha ran from the room and followed Clint, who was now fleeing the hospital like a bomb was going to go off.

Loki sighed. Natasha liked him too. She kissed him.

He never saw that coming.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. Yeah, this was a lot more late than I wish it was. Sorry about that. And I hope you guys don't mind the fact that yes, Loki and Natasha did kiss. And poor Clint. mah poor lil bb!

For once I actually had a rather busy weekend, which is why I didn't update. I am SUPER SUPER SORRY. Please forgive me.

On the bright side, we're almost to 300 FREAKING REVIEWS.


	22. Darcy's 'Crush' and Thanksgiving Begins

A.N. Hey guys! So, we are almost to 300 REVIEWS.

You guys are pure win, I really mean that. I do.

So I'm planning a sequel.

Can this be true?

Indeed.

If I don't plan stuff for a sequel, this fic will be much too long. And I might make the horrible mistake of introducing more characters.

I can't do that.

Can I?

Perhaps...

By the way, in case I didn't mention this earlier, here are everyone's ages.

16- Thor. (And the absent Jane.)

15- Clint, Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Pepper, Peggy, Darcy, and Steve.

14- Phil and Loki.

Everyone else- Doesn't matter unless you ask. x)

Oh, and I watched all three of the original Spider-Man movies, and "The Fantastic Four". I'm currently watching X-Men. My sister says I need to write and not watch so many movies. She's right. xD

Anyways, my rambling should definitely end now.

Chapter 22

Walking home was definitely one of the most boring activities in the life of Tony Stark.

Being the quick-thinking genius he was, Tony had already planned out several different scenarios of the rest of the afternoon, right after he left school. Bruce was coming over in thirty minutes, so Tony had time to waste.

Perhaps he'd call in some favors that people owed his father and get Phil kicked out of school. But his father never wasted a favor, and they were all used up.

"Mom, I'm bored." He announced as he walked into the study.

"Shh, honey, I'm on the phone." She whispered before going back to her conversation. "No, not you... Yes, of course we would like the turkey fresh, not frozen. Why would you even ask that?"

Tony glanced at the notepad in front of his mother and saw some plans for Thanksgiving dinner.

In the Stark household, Thanksgiving was the number two most important holiday, it was only beat out by Christmas. He tried to look at the invitation list, but Maria quickly snatched it away.

Tony just huffed and left the room. Boredom was boring. Thinking about boredom was even more boring.

He decided the only thing to do was the thing that he did whenever he was bored.

Prank call people.

He dialed some random number.

"Hey, welcome to Tori's Tasty Tacos. What would you like to order?" A feminine voice on the other end said.

"Do you have fuzzy tacos?"

"... Is this Tony Stark, again?"

Tony hung up and looked at the call history on the landline.

He had indeed called that taco place more than once. The dates he called were random, and he realized that he subconsciously kept dialing it whenever he prank called. What an epic fail.

He got up from the couch when he heard the doorbell ring. Bruce had arrived.

"Hey my best friend forever! What's new?" Tony greeted with a grin.

"Tony, why are you talking like a teenage girl?" Bruce asked as he walked through the pristine white doorway.

"'Cause I wanted to. Anyway, I thought you were going to be late because you were quickly visiting Pepper, why are you not late?" Tony asked.

"Pepper's hanging out with that Phil kid. She ushered me out early." Bruce responded.

"Of course she is." Tony rolled his eyes before deciding to forget about it and spend some quality time with his best (Not to mention, only.) science bro.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha stopped her running, breathless. This wasn't supposed to be how your first kiss was. You were supposed to kiss and then marvel at how amazing the other person is. Not run off to console your heartbroken best friend and leave the kissing partner in the hospital. Or that's just not how she imagined it. Still.

Natasha had 'followed' Clint all the way to the city park, but lost him. She sat on a bench to catch her breath.

Oh no, Thor.

She had been chasing Clint for at least thirty minutes, and the study date she was supposed to be at had completely slipped her mind.

"Might as well go now. Better late then never." She decided and walked slowly out of the city park.

-/-/-/

Clint had finished his sulking. He was fine. Absolutely perfect.

He did, however, feel bad for deserting one of his best friends.

He began making his way to Thor's house. He was tired though, and was much slower than when he'd been running from Nat.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Clint and Natasha both arrived at Thor's at practically the same time. Instead of knocking, they found themselves trying to talk to each other.

"Clint, I-" Natasha began hesitantly.

"Hey, it's cool, Nat. I was just surprised is all. We're best friends." Clint responded.

"I, uh, okay." Natasha was taken aback by his reaction but she shrugged it off. "Please don't tell anyone, especially Thor. I want to tell them myself."

"Anything for you." He replied. Natasha smiled and walked up to the door.

Clint thought she must've forgotten her response when he was going to say "It's cool, man." to Steve. She was right though. It really could mean anything, and in that case, it most certainly didn't mean he was fine with it.

But if Natasha was happy, Clint was going to be happy, even if he was feeling awful inside.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"I'll get it." Steve said when Thor's doorbell rang.

"Hey guys, took you long enough." Steve announced to Natasha and Clint as they walked inside.

"Yeah, we were talking." Natasha lied smoothly.

"And I ran out of peanuts, so my energy kinda zapped." Clint said with a frown.

"We brought our books." Natasha said.

"Yeah, sorry guys, we all gave up on studying twenty minutes ago." Steve replied.

"All?" Clint looked around the living room.

"Hey."

"Well, me, Steve, and Darcy." Thor said, not looking up from the television screen.

"Steve, Darcy, and I." Steve corrected.

"Yeah yeah. Shhh, we're getting to the good part." Darcy waved a hand at them.

"NO! Aw man, everyone dies in this show!" Thor stated.

"It's a CW show." Darcy picked up the remote as the episode came to the end.

"It's the first episode of season two and someone's already dead!" Steve joined the two on the couch and looked at the screen in disbelief.

Natasha and Clint looked at each other.

"Are we thinking the same thing?" Natasha asked him.

"Yup. Hey Thor, you have any peanuts?"

"No Clint, I wasn't thinking of peanuts!" Natasha rolled her eyes. "What the heck are you guys watching?"

"Peanuts are in the first cupboard." Thor gestured toward the kitchen as they started the next episode.

"It's "Supernatural". Best show ever. It was Darcy's idea." Steve answered.

"Okay. I have something to tell you guys." Natasha cleared her throat. No one looked at her.

She sighed and walked over to the wall socket.

"NAT! We were watching that!" Thor whined.

"I kissed your brother!"

The room went silent.

"Aw, you got to kiss the *cute* brother?" Darcy spoke first.

"Hey! I'm cute! And you kissed Loki?" Thor looked shocked.

"Yeah, guess I liked him more than I thought." Natasha replied.

"Congratulations, I guess." Steve finally said.

"I saw it happen. Didn't think you'd tell them this early, Nat." Clint said casually as he walked back in the room with one of the Odinson family's many cans of peanuts.

"Yeah, I suck at keeping secrets about myself." Natasha said and plugged back in the TV.

"Thanks Nat." Steve quickly turned back on the television and switched it to Netflix. Then the five teens all sat down in silence to finish watching TV before Thor's parents got home and kicked them all out because it was time for dinner.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hey Bruce, I really never realized how much I missed hanging out with you." Tony said as he walked his best friend to the door.

"Yeah, I guess school, relationships, all that stuff kind of got in the way." Bruce replied.

"You guys are coming to Thanksgiving dinner, right?" Tony asked.

"Thanksgiving's almost a month away, but if we're invited, of course I'm coming." Bruce answered.

"Great. See you at school tomorrow?" Tony smiled.

"Yeah, of course." He replied and left. "Bye Tony."

As Bruce walked home, he found himself thinking about 'it'. He really didn't want to admit it. He wasn't going to admit it. It was gone. It wasn't coming back.

Well, he wasn't so sure now.

Stupid 'it'.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

November 24th

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A month. Almost a month had passed since Natasha had kissed Loki.

Actually, it was two days before Thanksgiving. The time had flown by so quickly, and it wasn't *intentional* that she hadn't seen him since that day.

Oh gosh, he probably thought she hated him. Or that she decided to date Clint and forget about him.

Natasha was many things, pretty much all of them were good, and a coward wasn't one of them. She just didn't know what to say to him and she was a little freaked out about what he would say.

Loki still wasn't out of the hospital. It was practically Thanksgiving day, and he wasn't out of the hospital. Natasha hoped he would get out soon, then he could come talk to her. That might be less awkward.

Thor's parents, ever the enthusiastic entertainers, invited the Bartons and the Romanoffs over for Thanksgiving dinner. Natasha really wasn't looking forward to a long dinner with Barney in the room. He still had it in that hard head of his that Natasha and Clint were destined for love, and he was probably going to make subtle (Or not so subtle.) references to Clint's crush on her throughout the whole thing.

But she might see Loki.

That would definitely be a plus.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve absentmindedly looked outside his bedroom window. It was windy and chilly. The weather had been lingering in the low 50's for practically the whole month.

He wondered what they were doing for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving had always been so much fun with his dad. Now he was gone, and Steve hadn't missed him so much since the week of his death.

His uncle walked into his room after knocking.

"Hey, did I forget to mention that we're going to your boyfriend's house for Thanksgiving dinner?" He asked.

"Yeah, you definitely did." Steve's face lit up. Tony's house for Thanksgiving.

Wait, didn't Howard hate him?

"Are you sure we're invited?" Steve asked.

"Hello, do you know me? I double check *everything*. Maria delivered the invitation herself." He grinned. "I'm sure you and your boyfriend will have a great time."

"Go away, Uncle." Steve rolled his eyes.

Well, Maria liked him, even if Howard didn't. And Tony didn't seem to care what Howard's opinion was anyways. So the dinner would hopefully go smoothly.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Clint, I think I have a problem." Thor called up his best friend for advice. At 12 AM.

"What's up, man?" Clint's voice sounded tired.

"Darcy and her family are spending Thanksgiving *alone*!"

Clint rolled his eyes. "You called me at midnight for *that*? Man, I'm sure she'll have fun wherever they are. Okay?"

"No, not okay. There's more. She left a page of her diary at my house."

"And you read it?"

"Well, of course! And you won't believe what I found out." Thor winced.

"Hurry up, I'm falling asleep here." Clint said impatiently.

"And I quote," Thor began to read in a high pitched voice that Clint guessed was an imitation of Darcy. ""Dear Diary, I realized this a few days ago. I am *totally* crushing on Loki. You know, the uber cute brother of my cousin's ex-boyfriend, Thor. Yeah, apparently he and Natasha (Ex-boyfriend's crush.) kissed, but as far as I know, they haven't talked since. EEP! I talked to him at the hospital yesterday, and he said that he thinks I'm cute and that we should totally date. I can't wait 'til he's out of the hospital!""

Clint was silent for a second. "Why is that bad?"

"I um, I don't know. She can't date Loki! That's messed up! And what about Nat?" Thor sounded frantic.

"You're way overreacting, man. Are you crushing on her?"

"Absolutely not! Anyways, think of something we can do to get them apart, for my- um, Natasha's sake!" Thor hung up.

"Thanksgiving ought to be *very* interesting..."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Thanksgiving Day,

The Odinson Residence

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Thor sat at the *really* long dinner table and played with his fork. His mother was busying ushering in the guests and his father was probably finishing up the cooking.

He couldn't wait until Natasha and Clint made their way to the dining room.

"Oh, honey, I have to go, keep the guests entertained, will you?" Thor's mother asked as she entered the dining room.

"Sure, Mum." Thor responded and went to the living room.

"Hey man." Clint greeted.

"Hi Thor. Your parents did a great job decorating." Natasha complimented.

"Thanks Nat."

"I don't suppose Loki's out of the hospital yet." Natasha said.

Thor glanced at Clint.

"Nope." He finally said.

"Nope? Is that all you can say? Nope? Are you lying?" Natasha glared at him.

"Pfft, no." Thor replied.

"Apparently, Darcy has a major crush on Loki and she keeps visiting him." Clint announced.

"What?" Natasha turned to Thor.

"Yes, um, she does." He responded.

"Oh, well, it's not like Loki has a crush on her too." She scoffed. Clint and Thor exchanged looks.

"Does he?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. I hate to end it like that, ah well.

Next chapter- Thanksgiving.

I'm planning on making it the longest chapter yet! I'm excited for it.

Hope you guys review, and I hoped you liked it! :D

Oh, and I made a Tumblr. The link is on my profile. :)


	23. Thanksgiving: The Event

A.N. Hello my dear faithful readers who have given me over 300 REVIEWS! I seriously never ever expected this! I do hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. :D I'm afraid that I watched "X-Men: First Class" one too many times and I was basking in my newest OTP feels instead of writing. xP

But I'm back!

And oh my gosh, "Call Me Maybe" is on Pandora right now. Save me.

By the way, this *is* the full Thanksgiving event. :D

Chapter 23

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Thanksgiving Event, Part One: The Odinson/Barton/Romanoff Thanksgiving.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Does he?"

Thor waved his hands in dismissal after Natasha's question, but Clint started talking.

"Well, we don't know, but apparently Loki told Darcy that he wants to date her when he's out of the hospital." Clint said with a shrug.

Thor didn't like the way Natasha's face looked. It looked almost as bad as when Loki was hit by the car.

"Clint, shut up." Thor hissed.

"I don't... I don't believe this." Natasha looked at Clint with an expression that changed from disbelief to anger.

"Y- You- You're jealous of Loki so you decided to make up that crap so I'd come running to you! News flash, I'm not buying it. Really Clint, we've been best friends since practically forever, and you're going to screw it up over some *stupid* crush?" Natasha looked furious.

"Nat, I- Nat, I didn't make it up!" Clint protested as she stormed past him into the festive dining room. "Thanks for the help, best friend." He scowled at Thor and left the room. Nobody noticed how hurt he truly looked.

Thor would've followed, but his mother left him in charge of the guests, so instead he sat there and made pointless conversation, wondering how things could've possibly gone so wrong with his friendships in the time span of forty-five seconds.

-/-/-/

Natasha sat at the table, twirling a table knife in her right hand and tapping the table incessantly with her left.

Clint was her best friend. How could he do that to her? Didn't he know how much Loki meant to her? She wasn't buying his little story, not one bit. Besides, since when had Loki even had the opportunity to get to know Darcy?

-When she paid him visits every day while you sat at home, not giving him a single thought.-

Natasha cursed her little inner voice that lived inside her head 24/7. Usually it was ignored, but the guilt she had from not speaking to Loki for almost a month after they freaking *kissed* had subconsciously given it some attention.

Natasha was still delving into her thoughts when she heard a delightfully familiar voice.

Her face lit up and she rushed to the living room.

"Oh, hello Natasha." Loki greeted.

He looked great, for being hit by a car not even two months ago.

"You look so much better." She responded, unable to think of anything better to say.

"Yes, well, you haven't seen me for... three weeks?" Loki stated in a flat voice.

Natasha hoped her absence wouldn't have bothered him, but apparently it did.

"I'm really sorry about that, I didn't know what I would say. I don't regret anything, if that's what you thought. So no need to replace me." She replied.

"Replace...? Oh. That. Natasha, come with me." Loki pulled her by her wrist into another room, the Odinson's library.

"This is rather difficult to explain, but I'll try," Loki got a thoughtful look on his face. "Darcy actually has a very large crush on my brother, and she's convinced he feels the same, but is too stubborn to realize it. So I agreed to play along with her plan to make Thor jealous. I hope it works." He finished and looked her in the eye. "I don't have any interest in her whatsoever. I only love you."

Natasha couldn't help the goofy smile forming on her lips. "You're such a weird fourteen year old, Loki. I... I love you too."

"Well, that's lovely to know."

Really, there was a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, Natasha thought as she found herself being pulled into a passionate kiss with the most unique and amazing guy she'd probably ever have the pleasure of knowing.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Clint wasn't feeling the thankfulness. At all.

Stupid crush. Stupid crush. Natasha didn't understand, it wasn't a crush, but apparently his feelings were stupid, so he wasn't going to say anything else to her.

Best friends. What a stupid notion.

He loved Natasha. She didn't. It was that simple.

Was Clint really going to let this get in the way of their beautiful friendship?

No, he wasn't.

Even if it hurt to see her with Loki. See her with anyone else.

She was right. He was jealous of Loki. He had everything Clint wanted. Thor for a brother, Natasha for a girlfriend, even Darcy had a crush on him.

Sometimes, Clint felt like he had no one. Only peanuts.

His sense of humor always remained intact.

Clint retreated from his thoughts and went back downstairs.

"Hey, Clint!" Thor looked apologetic.

"It's fine. Where's Nat? I want to apologize for acting like-" Clint was cut off.

"Right down the hall, I think she's in the library. Good luck." Thor offered.

"Thanks." Clint trudged halfheartedly down the hallway, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach that usually meant he should stop whatever he was doing and go back to wherever he was before.

He entered the library and was faced with one of the worst things he could imagine.

Picture this: You walk into the room and see the guy/girl you're in love with passionately making out with someone else. Running his/her fingers through the other person's hair, probably tongue in there somewhere, and enjoying it immensely. How would you feel?

That's exactly how Clint felt at this very moment.

His main thoughts were, "Why the heck does this always happen to me", "MY LIFE.", and, most importantly:

"That should be me."

Clint exited and then made purposely loud footsteps to alert them of his approach.

When he entered again, they were apart, thankfully.

"Hey, Nat, I wanted to apologize about what I said earlier. It was out of line, and you're correct, I was jealous. I'm sorry. You're my best friend, I don't want to lose that over a... crush." Clint finally said, ignoring the glances she and Loki were sending each other. They were as bad as Steve and Tony.

"Thanks, I'm sorry I yelled at you. Hormones I guess." She said in a joking tone.

Loki remained silent.

"Hey guys, dinner's ready!" Thor said with enthusiasm, entering the library with his typical smile.

"Marvelous, I'm hungry. The hospital food is disgusting." Loki said, making a face.

Thor just beamed at them before making his way back to the dining room.

Loki and and Natasha looked at each other and then left. Clint followed close behind, before remembering one thing.

What about *Darcy*?

-/-/-/-/-/

They all sat at the enormous dining table at their designated seats.

Thor, Loki, Natasha, Clint, and Barney sat in that order, the adults just sat next to their partners in some bizarre order that was probably alphabetical or something.

The table was covered with dishes of delicious looking food. That was one of the things that Thor loved about his parents, their amazing cooking skills.

The turkey was *big*. There would probably be plenty of leftovers, even with the eleven diners. It was succulent, extremely flavorful, and overall, probably the highlight of the meal.

There was a large bowl of one of Thor's favorite dishes, garlic mashed potatoes. They were melt in your mouth delicious. Creamy, fluffy, and perfect. They were probably the closest you could ever get to eating clouds. Paired with the irresistible turkey gravey, you couldn't ask for a better side dish, at least in his opinion.

Sweet potatoes. Natasha's favorite dish of the meal was probably this one. They weren't too sweet or overpowering, they added a perfect touch to the rest of the meal. The little bit of sweetness was wonderful.

The homemade cranberry sauce was just... delicious. The cranberries they'd used were an amazing combination of tart and sweet, the sauce used them perfectly. Loki probably devoured half the bowl.

There was a lovely green salad, crisp and cold. Mrs. Odinson had prepared a delightful creamy tarragon dressing to go on it.

The one thing that Clint couldn't resist having more of was the pumpkin soup. It was *amazing*. A little sweet, but not as sweet as the pie would be later. It was cooked to perfection. Probably the best soup he'd ever eaten.

Of course, you couldn't expect the dinner to go by smoothly. That was too much to ask for.

"So, Clint," Barney said through a mouthful of stuffing. "I heard from a little birdie that Natasha kissed someone."

"Barney, knock it off." Natasha rolled her eyes.

"I deserve to know if my lil' brother gets his first kiss!" Barney protested.

"First kiss with Natasha." Clint pointed out.

"So you got the guts? I'm surprised." Barney gave him a pat on the back. "I'm proud of you, little brother."

"Whatever." Clint wasn't in such a good mood now.

"Darling, we should all share something we're thankful for." Mrs. Odinson suggested to her husband.

"Great idea. Start with the kids." He decided.

"Thor, why don't you start?" She asked.

"Sure. I'm thankful that I have such a great family, even if we can be horribly dysfunctional. I don't care if that sounds cheesy." He shrugged and went back to his potatoes and turkey.

"I'm thankful for getting out of the hospital." Loki remarked.

"I'm thankful for the amazing guy I kissed." Natasha said.

"I'm thankful too!" Barney skipped Clint.

"Shut up," Clint groaned. "I'm thankful for everything, so yeah." He sent a glance to Natasha, but she was too busy talking to Loki to notice him.

The adults continued, all of them making some sort of comment on 'Clint' and Natasha's relationship. Clint said nothing, but he wished what they were saying was true.

When the smooth and creamy pumpkin pie dessert was set on the table, they all managed to forget their problems and simply be thankful.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Thanksgiving Event, Part Two: The Stark/Banner/Rogers Dinner

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony was, much to his dismay, recruited by his mother into greeting the guests. Needless to say, he'd rather be doing *anything*.

Well, at least until he say the adorable face of his boyfriend.

"Steve? Mom didn't tell me that she invited you guys!" Tony said happily.

"Yeah, I was surprised too." Steve replied.

"Move it, lovebirds, I'm trying to enter the house." His uncle said as he slid past them.

"Bruce! Have you seen Pepper lately? She never responded to the invite." Tony said as his best friend arrived.

"Yeah, she and her family are spending Thanksgiving with the Coulsons. Apparently they really hit it off." Bruce explained.

"Ew." Tony made a face.

Steve hit him.

"Ow! Why'd you do that?" Tony said with a frown.

"He's not that bad." Steve reprimanded.

"Meh." Tony led the guests into the dining room where the dinner was being laid out on the contemporary dinner table.

"Maria, what are the Rogers' doing here?" Howard demanded when he saw them.

"The Potts' couldn't make it. They were invited." Maria explained. "Be polite, Howard. For goodness' sake, you're a grown man."

"I don't care." Howard was going to be difficult all night, Maria could see it now.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The dinner was going by smoothly, so far. All the adults were engaging in 'animated' conversation while the teens chatted about random crap. Well, Steve and Tony were. Bruce was talking about a test or something.

"Bruce, I'm afraid I don't have any idea what you're talking about. Quit blathering about school and relax!" Tony swung an arm over his best friend's shoulder.

Bruce quickly shrugged off the gesture and shut up, returning to his dinner.

"Hey Steve, you got a little something..." Tony tried to signal Steve that he had a bit of food on the corner of his mouth, but he decided it would be easier to just lean over and lick it off.

"Tony!" Steve was blushing furiously. All eyes were on them now.

"Hey, remember when I did something like that when you had dinner with me and my parents? I thought it'd be cool to repeat the first date, of sorts. The original gesture was all thanks to Bruce's suggestion of flirting." Tony smiled at his best friend.

Bruce found himself really regretting that.

"Tony, that sort of behavior is not appropriate at the dinner table." Howard said in a low voice.

"Oh, lighten up, Dad." Tony grumbled.

Maria tried to dissuade her husband but failed.

"Don't do it again." Howard warned.

"Please, if you had your way, that 'sort of behavior' would be illegal." Tony spat, his mood turning sour.

Howard then proceeded to mutter some horrible insult about gays under his breath, which no one caught except for Maria and Bruce.

*SPLAT*

Howard raised his hand and found himself touching mashed potatoes. On his face.

"Excuse me?" He glared at Bruce.

"I can't believe you just called your own son that." Bruce said, incredulous. "So I did that as revenge."

*SPLAT*

Tony found himself with cranberry sauce dripping off his chin. Steve's uncle did that.

Steve grinned before leaning in and repeating his boyfriend's earlier gesture.

Tony smiled and then tossed turkey at Bruce's parents.

Somehow, a full-blown food fight erupted, the only one not participating was Maria. She stayed in the kitchen to guard the pumpkin and apple pies.

Even Howard was laughing. He could be so bipolar sometimes.

At least they were having a great time. Even if she'd have to clean it up and furiously scrub the walls later.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Everyone looked a little gross, even the adults, when Maria brought everyone out a slice of pie.

"I do hope none of you are too dirty to enjoy my pie." She remarked, amused by even the other adults' current state.

"Mom, are you kidding? Your pie is amazing! I could never be too full or too dirty!" Tony beamed.

Bruce looked at his friend's food splattered face and couldn't help but grin fondly. He looked pretty cute. Even covered in food.

Steve thought the same thing.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Thanks so much for coming. I am sorry about the uh, food fight." Maria couldn't hold back a laugh, even as she apologized and dismissed the Banners.

"Bye Tony, it was great seeing you." Bruce said, licking some gravy off the corner of his mouth.

"I'm glad you came, I'd have been rather bored if my best friend wasn't there with me and my beautiful boyfriend." Tony replied.

"Yeah, good night Tony." Bruce said quickly, feeling 'it' popping up again.

"Steve, a word?" Howard asked before the Rogers' could leave.

"Yes sir?" Steve responded, joining the older man in the living room.

"I have not been accepting of my son, nor you. I want to apologize. Neither of you deserve that, you're both wonderful boys. I want to be more accepting, and I think it starts with asking for you to forgive me." He was actually sincere, no script that Maria had forced him to say, just what he really believed.

"I was never angry with you." Steve replied.

"You're a great kid. You know that?" Howard managed a smile.

"Tony sure seems to think so." Steve almost ran his fingers through his hair, but realized it was probably really gross right now.

"Yes, yes he does." Howard left.

"Man, I never thought I'd see that." Tony whistled. "You've made the proud and egotistical Howard Stark ask for forgiveness. I'm proud, Cap." He smiled.

"So, what are you thankful for this year?" Steve asked.

"Let me think, well... Hmm..." Tony thought for a moment.

"I'm thankful for having the most adorable and sweet boyfriend on the planet, and I'm thankful that he puts up with all my crap." Tony finally decided. "And I'm thankful that he's such an amazing kisser."

"Really?" Steve blushed a little bit.

"You're such a girl sometimes, you blush a lot. It's cute, and yes. You are." Tony remarked and leaned in.

Suffice it to say, Tony was really very glad that the Rogers' didn't leave for another half hour.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. It's done and it's two AM. Crud, I've got church this morning. I better go to sleep. xD

I had FUN writing this chapter. And you guys seriously need to thank my sister, "TheLlamaWriter". Without her reminding me all the time, this story wouldn't be updated as frequently as it is. Hehe. xD

I hope you liked it. I am actually really happy with it. Reviews are very much appreciated! :D


	24. That Fateful Day at the Art Museum

A.N. Wow, I am so ECSTATIC. We have 333 reviews! Besides being a cool number, it's over halfway to 500. Which means it's over a quarter to 1000. WHICH IS SO MUCH MORE RESPONSE THAN I EVER EXPECTED.

You people rock. Seriously.

I am so happy you liked the last chapter! Half the credit for this chapter goes to my sister, TheLlamaWriter, (If you didn't already know that.) and her amazing plot ideas since I was seriously affected by writer's block. xP

Oh, and we saw "The Amazing Spider-Man". OHMIGOSH YOU NEED TO GO SEE IT. It's pure epicness and win.

Oh, and Steve and Tony had a nice thirty minute long make out session last chapter that I didn't write. You know, the whole "Tony leaned in" thing at the end? The Rogers' didn't leave for thirty more minutes?

Yeah, I could've made that a bit clearer. xP

Chapter 24

Thanksgiving was currently the best day of the year for Steve. The best part was knowing that Howard was finally accepting of his and Tony's relationship. That made him feel so much more comfortable with it. (Wouldn't you be nervous if the billionaire mayor of *your* town decided he didn't like your love life?)

And then he and Tony kissed. A lot. With no interruptions. Steve was mentally thanking his uncle for talking to the Starks for as long as he did.

He did forget that most if not all of the food at dinner had ended up dripping off people's faces and their clothes. So Steve proceeded to make himself a bologna sandwich for a late dinner, humming tunelessly and thinking of how thankful he was for his amazing boyfriend.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Monday, Stark High. To kick off the week, the lovely sophomore English teacher Maria Hill decided, along with the freshman art teacher, that they were going to the local art museum for a field trip.

Steve was happy with it, so was Phil. They were probably the only two. Tony and Bruce were pushing the science teacher to let them go to the museum of science instead. It didn't work.

"So, Darcy, I have the greatest appreciation for art out of my entire family. DiCaprio was a genius, and his art is amazing." Thor announced, annoyed with how she was staring at his brother, who was currently talking happily (An actual surprise.) to Natasha.

"Mmm hmm." Darcy nodded.

"DaVinci, really man." Clint whispered.

"DaVinci was cool too." Thor said.

Clint had to restrain himself from slapping his hand to his forehead.

"Yeah, Darcy, I thought you and Loki were going to be dating when he left the hospital." Clint said, catching her attention when he said Loki's name.

"Oh, I misunderstood him. He wanted to get to know each other better, like friends. Not date. But still, he's so dreamy." Darcy said in a tone of admiration.

Thor snorted. Several people stated at him.

"Dreamy is not the word I would *ever* use to describe Loki!" He declared in protest.

Several people hushed him.

"Yeah, well there's no apparent homoerotic subtext in your conversations, and he's your brother." Darcy replied.

Thor scoffed and began to repeat her in a mocking tone. ""There's no apparent"- Wait, WHAT?" By now, a security guard told him yelling was against the rules so he was forced to shut up.

Steve glanced at Thor, who was now stewing in his thoughts while watching Darcy flirt shamelessly with Loki, much to Natasha's annoyance.

Steve then looked down to his hand and realized that Tony was holding it. He grinned. Life couldn't get any better. Seriously.

Bruce walked up to them and cleared his throat.

"Hey, what's up?" Tony asked.

"Tony, can I talk to you for a sec?" Bruce asked, looking a little nervous.

"Sure. Be right back, Cap." Tony followed Bruce away and Steve found himself being bombarded by questions from Phil about his relationship with Tony, and his opinion on the horrible names the two were being called.

"In case you haven't heard, I'm the head photographer and a journalist for the school paper. Do you think you could possibly get me an interview with Tony? I'd love to get his opinion on everything that's been happening." Phil asked hopefully.

"Sure, I'll ask him, I guess." Steve replied.

-/-/-/-/

"So, what'd you want to talk about?" Tony asked once he and Bruce were alone.

"I... Uh... It's difficult to explain." Bruce scratched behind his ear. "I don't know how to tell you it."

"Hey, it's okay. I get it. Just spill the beans, I bet it'll feel better once you get it out. At the very least, I'll have a new story to toss in Coulson's face so he'll leave me and my boyfriend alone." Tony joked.

"Remember- Oh, I can't do this." Bruce groaned and looked in the face of his best friend.

"I- I- Remember the Truth or Dare at Pepper's last party? And the question about who I liked?" Bruce finally managed to say.

"Yeah, sort of." Tony waited for him to continue.

Bruce took a deep breath. "Well, it never went away. Actually, it did, but it came back."

"Wait you have a crush on me? Again?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. I do." Bruce hesitated but couldn't help himself. He pulled his best and only friend to him and planted his own lips on Tony's.

Kissing Steve was different than kissing Bruce. Whenever Tony kissed Steve, it was like a kiss in a fairy tale was depicted, magical. But even better. Steve's lips were soft, and he was slow, romantic, and sweet. Every cliché description of kissing applied to their kisses. But they were so loving. Tony adored them as much as his boyfriend.

Bruce was... different. His lips were slightly chapped, much like Tony's, and he wasn't slow. He was fast, impatient, passionate. Different from his personality. More like he got when he was angry. It was a change, it was different, he shouldn't be doing it. Tony always liked doing what he shouldn't. He wasn't going to admit this, but he was enjoying it. Too much.

He broke away.

"Bruce, I can't. I'm sorry. My boyfriend." Tony trailed off.

Bruce was rendered speechless. He kissed Tony. *He* kissed *Tony*. Having almost uncontrollable emotions was awful.

"Tony, I am *so* sorry. I can't- can't believe I- I did that." Bruce stammered.

"Bruce, you're my best friend. I forgive you," Tony replied, still flustered from the unexpected kiss. "Can we please keep this between ourselves? I don't want Steve to think something's going on."

"Of course! I uh, I have to go. I don't- Bye Tony." Bruce rushed off.

"Great." Tony held his head in his hands. "What am I supposed to do?"

He didn't notice the figure that watched them the whole time.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony rejoined the group and told Steve that Bruce just wanted to talk about Thanksgiving dinner. Steve believed it. Tony shook off the nagging feeling that he should tell his boyfriend, but he ignored it.

-/-/-/-/

Clint walked up to Natasha, who was standing in front of a large portrait and discussing it with Loki.

"Nat, can you help me? I need advice." Clint asked.

"Sure." She murmured something to Loki and then turned to him as Loki walked off.

"I saw something that will affect one of my friends. I know it will hurt them if I tell, but I think it's better to know now. The person who was doing it said they didn't want my friend to know, I just want to be a good friend." Clint explained.

"Well, I don't know what to say. I think, personally, that you should do what feels right. I don't know the whole situation or anything." Natasha shrugged.

"Okay, I know what I'm gonna do, I guess. Thanks Nat, you rock." Clint left with his hands in his pockets.

"Okay then." Natasha left to find Loki, wondering if she should've told him not to tell the friend.

She shook it off. What could possibly happen?

-/-/-/-/

Thor was still stewing, how could this possibly happen? Darcy couldn't have a crush on Loki. No, no, no, and just no.

Unfortunately, he hadn't realized that he and Darcy lost the group awhile back and were now wandering around alone.

"Darce? We better try to find the group." Thor said, half expecting her to ignore him.

"Darce? What's that, a pet name for me?" She grinned.

"Oh, yeah, I guess so." Thor really hadn't meant to use the nickname he came up with in his head a few days ago.

"It's cute," Thor was almost beaming, until, "Do you think Loki would call me that?"

"I wouldn't know." He said in an annoyed voice.

"I wish he liked me back..."

"Okay, will you please just give up on Loki? What do you even SEE in him? I have everything Loki does!" Thor burst out, not able to contain his emotion any longer.

The security guard nearby looked tempted to throw him out before he got too worked up and broke one of the lovely pieces of art that had been donated by the 'kind' and 'generous' Howard Stark.

"Finally, you admit it, you like me too!" Darcy said proudly.

"Yes- wait, I'm confused. I... I do like you, Darcy. A lot. But I thought you liked Loki." Thor asked, feeling like he'd missed something important.

"You're so... What do British people say? Daft. You can be so daft. That was an act. I wanted to make you jealous. I knew you liked me, but I also knew you were too stubborn to admit it." Darcy said, a proud grin still lingering on her face.

"Oh. Okay." Thor mumbled.

They both began walking to the entrance, hoping they'd find the group on the way there.

"So, can we like, I dunno, date?" Darcy asked hopefully.

"Yeah! What a great idea!" Thor said, his usual enthusiasm returning.

"Thor, you're weird."

"Darce, you're weird too."

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Attention classes, we seem to have lost a few of our students, and our English teacher. So stay put, I'll be right back, I'm going to go look for them." Maria Hill announced and the classes nodded while looking around at the modern art section they were currently in.

"Hey Steve, I'm stealing you away from your boyfriend for a moment." Steve looked to see Clint grabbing his arm and dragging him away.

"Okay, promise you won't kill anyone." Clint began.

"Uh, why would I kill anyone?"

"l'll take that as a yes. I saw something that may change your relationship. But I hope it actually makes it stronger, or something." Clint took a deep breath. "I saw two people kissing. Bruce Banner and... and Tony."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony decided talking to Bruce about science stuff while Steve talked to Clint was a good idea. They could still be friends, even if they kissed.

But before he knew it, Steve was back, and Tony knew something was wrong.

"You were kissing Bruce?" Steve asked.

Tony winced at hearing the hurt in his boyfriend's voice.

"*He* kissed *me*." Tony pointed out.

"I don't believe this Tony. Your father finally decided to be accepting, we were on top of the world, and then you go and cheat on me with your best friend?" Steve asked in disbelief.

"I..."

"You're not even denying it!" Steve said in shock.

"Just so you know, my dad will never be accepting of our relationship." Tony said, changing the subject momentarily.

"What, am I not good enough for him?" Steve demanded.

"What? That isn't what I meant! He's my dad, he's-" Tony tried to protest.

"Stop."

Tony and Steve turned to Bruce.

"Just stop hurting him, Rogers." Bruce said, eerily quiet and seemingly calm.

Tony looked at Bruce. "Bruce, don't you dare get angry-"

"Me hurt him? It's you! If you hadn't kissed him, none of this would have happened, we were on top of the world! If Tony's being hurt, it's *your* fault." Steve replied.

Bruce then got angry. Really angry. He threw the first punch, and it hit Steve, right in the nose. Steve fell to the ground.

"Bruce, calm down!" Tony ordered.

"I would NEVER hurt him!" Bruce kicked him, preventing Steve from getting up.

Steve tried to get up moments later, but Bruce punched him again.

The classes were cheering.

"Bruce, stop it!" Tony ordered and he stood between them.

"Tony-" Bruce tried to speak, but then he ended up fleeing the vicinity.

"Steve, are you okay?" Tony asked and pulled him to his feet.

Steve pushed Tony away best he could.

"I don't- Just- Tony, I just... I'm going to call my uncle." Steve clutched his bleeding nose and left.

Tony stood in the middle of the class, ignoring the demands from the security guards who wanted to know what happened.

He may have very well just lost the only person he'd ever loved.

How did this happen? So quickly. The day was perfect. All it took was a kiss. A little crazy, really.

Tony sat down to wait for Miss Hill. Not believing what has just happened.

Clint looked around. He was seriously regretting telling Steve about that kiss.

-/-/-/-/-/

"Steve, what did you *do* to your nose?" His uncle asked in concern as he pulled up to the museum.

"I don't want to talk about it. Let's just go home." Steve blinked back some tears and got in the car.

"All it takes is a second for my world to come crumbling down."

"What's that?"

"Nothing, Uncle."

-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. Gosh, I couldn't help it. I had to throw that in there. Sorry guys, the drama was calling my name.

Please review and I hope you enjoyed! :D

Until next time.


	25. Friendly Plotting Friends

A.N. I really can't stress how much I adore every single one of you guys. My dear readers who deal with my strange and random plot twists and still enjoy my stories. You guys are so appreciated. I'm so thankful for every single review I get. Every one.

Anyways, I do hope that this story doesn't go the way of "Story of Us" by Taylor Swift.

Don't worry, it won't. xD

Chapter 25

Steve's ride home was filled with an uncomfortable silence. His uncle, normally very talkative, didn't say a word. He could see that his nephew was in a bad mood so he left it alone.

Steve didn't want to say anything. He was beginning to feel quite guilty for chewing out Tony without listening to the whole story. What if Clint didn't know what he saw? Maybe it wasn't Tony.

Though he never denied kissing Bruce.

Steve was seriously hurting by the time they reached the house, emotionally and physically. He nursed his bleeding nose and thought some more.

Bruce shouldn't have lost his temper, but Steve shouldn't have either.

He found himself dialing his boyfriend.

What was he going to say?

He hung up before Tony had the chance to answer.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Before Maria returned, Tony tried to make up a lie to cover for his best friend, but Bruce just shook his head.

"Miss Hill, Bruce Banner beat up Steve Rogers." Phil stated plainly when she approached the classes. Tony scoffed, "Teacher's pet."

Maria looked at Bruce, then around the area. "Where's Steven now?"

"He went home, ma'am." Phil replied, glaring at Bruce.

"Mr. Banner, you will be paying a visit to the principal's office when we return to the school." She ordered sternly.

"Yes ma'am." Bruce replied, once again his usual calm and collected self.

"We're returning to the school now." Ms. Hill motioned for the students to follow her, and they did.

"Hey, what'd we miss?" Thor asked breathlessly. Darcy stood next to him, breathing heavily as well.

"What were you two doing?" Clint responded.

"Running here." Darcy said quickly.

"Uh, yeah. I guess you missed something kind of... important." Clint said nervously.

-/-/-/-/-/

"*Kind* of important? Yeah, just a little." Thor said with wide eyes when Clint finished his story and all the buses pulled into the school parking lot.

"Yeah, and it was all my fault." Clint muttered.

"Hey, come on bro, it wasn't your fault. Steve would've found out sooner or later, I think it's probably better that he found out now so Tony won't do anything more with Bruce." Darcy said reassuringly.

"Thanks." Clint replied, but he didn't sound convinced. "Off of that topic, did something happen with you two that I don't know about?"

"What? Pssh, no." Thor denied.

"Yeah, we're dating now." Darcy beamed, ignoring Thor's comment.

"I'm insulted, my best friend lied to my face." Clint shook his head.

"Yeah, we're dating." Thor agreed.

"Okay, what about Loki? I'm confused." Clint asked.

"Oh, that was all a ruse to get Thor to realize that he liked me." Darcy said.

"Okay," Clint nodded slowly. "I'm happy for you, man."

"Thanks!" Thor grinned. "I even came up with a nickname for Darcy. I got the idea from Tony an-" Thor stopped.

"Everyone does that." Darcy said quickly, trying to get all their minds off of Steve and Tony.

Clint just followed the line of people making their ways off the bus in silence. He wasn't going to say anything more about the little incident. He could talk about it to Natasha later. (She had sat on the bus that Loki was riding on.)

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Mr. Banner, this type of behavior is unacceptable. According to Mr. Rogers, his nephew is nursing a broken and bleeding nose and more than a few bruises. This should have been a lot worse, but we were lucky. What possessed you to do that?" Principal Fury demanded.

Bruce just sat there.

"Fine. You're suspended for three days. Go home, and I suggest you think of giving a very sincere apologize to Mr. Rogers." He ordered and sent him out.

Bruce walked out of his office and let out a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding.

Tony had been waiting for him and rushed to his side.

"Hey, how'd it go? What'd he decide? You aren't expelled, are you?" Tony asked, each question coming in quick succession.

"It went better than I thought. I'm not expelled, he decided to suspend me for three days." Bruce put his head in his hands. "My parents are going to freak. *I'm* freaking out. This goes on my permanent record!" Bruce said worriedly. He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Tony, I'm fine. I think the one who really needs you right now is your boyfriend."

With that, Bruce turned on his heel and left the school, leaving Tony to his thoughts.

He thinks he should call Steve.

Instead, he just leaves, because Tony Stark, for once in quite some time, doesn't know what the heck he's going to do.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Steve needs to stop.

Thinking about it makes it worse.

Does Tony like Bruce more than him? Why would he cheat on him? Was Steve not worth anything Tony went through?

He dialed Tony's number for the fourth time in an hour, but he never pressed 'Call'.

Right after he shut his phone and tossed it on his bed, it rang.

He answered quickly. "Tony, I am so-"

"Steve, it's Natasha."

"Oh, Nat, hi. What's up?" Steve responded, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. Have you spoken to Tony yet?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

"I'm fine. My nose hurts, but I'm okay. I... I haven't talked to Tony." Steve admitted.

"Steve, you need to talk to him. Your relationship isn't going to go *anywhere* if you don't communicate." Natasha replied.

"I know, I know."

"Yeah, then go talk to him." She said.

"Bye Nat." Steve hung up.

It wasn't like it wasn't hurting him. It was. He really couldn't bear feeling like he and Tony were walking such a fragile line. Steve couldn't handle doubting Tony's feelings for him.

Did he ever really have any feelings for him?

They were right, they'd always been right. If he was having a relationship with Tony Stark, he was definitely riding for a fall.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The next day, lunch was incredibly awkward.

Tony wasn't talking to Steve, and Steve wasn't talking to Tony. Tony and Pepper were sitting alone instead of with Steve and his friends like they had been doing for quite a while.

Clint thought it would be nice to have company in his relationship-less misery, but it wasn't. Steve was acting all depressed and un-Stevelike. Tony was sending glances in Steve's direction every few seconds. Pepper knew that he wanted to tell Steve what really happened, but she knew, yes, she knew, he was too afraid to say anything. He was afraid of screwing up his relationship with the only person he'd ever truly loved.

"You've already screwed it up, you know." Pepper announced.

"What?" Tony's head snapped up from staring at his lunch.

"Your relationship with Steve is already heading downhill. If you talk to him you can fix it." Pepper said.

"Pepper, I know what I'm doing." Tony grumbled.

"I don't think you do." She said in exasperation.

"Why are you getting so worked up? Why does it matter?" Tony asked, poking at his food.

"It matters because Bruce and Steve both love you. Bruce's heart is already broken, and I don't want you breaking Steve's too!" Pepper responded.

"I won't! None of you believe me, would you just freaking trust me for once?" Tony yelled, gaining attention from numerous people in the cafeteria. "Everyone's telling me, "Oh, don't break Steve's heart." Has anyone even thought of *trusting* me? Or, I don't know, thinking of my feelings? What if Steve breaks my heart, huh?" Tony's expression was a cross between furious and frustrated.

"Why don't you give us a reason to trust you?" Pepper stalked out of the lunchroom.

Tony sat there, gave another glance to his boyfriend, who looked miserable but sent him a small smile.

"Trust isn't my forte." He mumbled.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Clint was nibbling halfheartedly on his peanut butter sandwich, watching Loki and Natasha looking all couple-y. Something he could never see happening with Loki.

"Everyone's got someone, huh?" Clint muttered to Steve.

"At least Natasha's your best friend. You'll never be anything less." Steve said, trying to cheer up his friend.

"Not the same, man, not the same." He sighed and took a bite out of his sandwich before making a face. "Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Flash forward: Three days later, four days after the incident with Bruce, Steve and Tony still hadn't said a word, at least as far as anyone knew. Darcy was the first to remark on it.

"So, Steve and Tony still haven't said a word to each other, what the heck's up with that? They're *dating*." Darcy pointed out to Thor as they walked to school, both eating cherry Pop-Tarts.

"I know." Thor looked thoughtful. "We should do something about it."

"Thor, it's bad to get involved in other people's relationships." Darcy reminded, finishing off the last crumbs of her breakfast pastry.

"I know." He replied with a grin.

Darcy pondered it for a second and then an 'evil' grin spread across her face. "I've got a plan."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The plan was set into motion right before fourth period started.

"Tony, I need your help."

"Loki Odinson, right? Why don't you ask your brother? I barely know you." Tony said, arching his eyebrow at the request from the dark haired teen that stood in front of him.

"No, see, it's about my brother. Natasha and I are playing a prank on him, and I need you to set it into motion. Come on, you're Tony Stark. I bet you love to play pranks. It won't take long." Loki responded.

"Eh, why not?" He shrugged. "What do I do?"

"Head to the janitor's closet near the senior science classroom and wait for my text. Then you'll know what to do." Loki instructed. Tony looked a bit suspicious but followed his orders.

Loki pulled out his phone.

"He's on his way."

It was followed by a short reply from Natasha.

"K, I'll send him on his way too. T, C, & D are in position."

Natasha slid her phone into the pocket of her skinny jeans and walked over to Steve, who was at his locker, getting ready to head to class.

"Steve, I seem to have misplaced my History textbook. Loki and I are trying to find it. Do you think you could check over by the senior science room to see if I dropped it over there?" Natasha said, looking hopeful.

"Sure, anything for you, Nat." Steve answered.

As soon as he was out of sight, Natasha pulled out her phone and texted Thor.

"S's on his way. Is TS there?"

Thor texted back almost immediately. One could marvel at the efficiency of their little plot.

"Yup. See Steve now. C, D, and I are going in."

Natasha texted Loki an update and went to class, feeling very satisfied with herself and the rest of the 'team'.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hey guys, have you seen Natasha's history textbook anywhere? She sent me here to find it, and we should hurry so we can get to class." Steve said, panting, as he raced up to his three friends.

"What's going on?" He asked when they exchanged glances.

"Nothing, but I think I saw it in the janitor's closet right there." Clint pointed to the closed door. "I wasn't gonna go in there though. It's the smell." He made a face. Thor nodded.

"Uh, okay." Steve looked at the three of them for a moment and then walked over to the door of the closet.

"Tony?" Steve said in surprise as he opened the door and saw his boyfriend inside, pressed against the door. Tony tried to push them both out, but Thor, being the epic, muscular, football-playing jock he was, shoved them back in and closed the door with the help of Clint and Darcy.

"You two are going to discuss your problems, we'll unlock it eventually. Ta ta!" Steve and Tony heard Clint say.

"Yeah, and don't even think about trying to call for someone to let you out. In case you didn't notice, we confiscated your phones, and we're making sure nobody goes in there with you guys. As far as anyone else knows, we've been assigned by Principal Fury to keep people out of there because 'a stink bomb went off.'" Thor stated.

"So get talking!" Darcy ordered.

Tony and Steve would've exchanged very exasperated glances, at least if there was any light in the small enclosed space.

"Well, I guess this is a good time to tell you what happened at the museum on Monday." Tony decided.

Steve was going to listen, and Tony was going to explain.

Then they were going to get out and beat the crap out of Thor, and anyone else who was involved in this ridiculous plan.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. I hoped you liked it! The whole plot thing was fun to write, hehe. You'll get the conversation between Tony and Steve next chapter. Hehe. ;)

Reviews are SO appreciated, even if I don't respond. xP


	26. Forgiveness

A.N. Hello again, readers. :D Here comes the epic confrontation (CoughyeahrightCough) between Tony and Steve. I do hope this chapter is totally awesome, I decided to take some of your ideas into it, so 60% of the credit for this chapter should go to my reviewers. :D

P.S. Wasp stings hurt, just so you know. (I know now...)

Chapter 26

"Fine, explain." Steve said, sitting down and accidentally knocking over a broom, which he attempted to stand up again.

"First, Bruce kissed me," Tony began.

"Yeah, but did you kiss him *back*?" Steve asked.

"Well, I kind of did-"

"Seriously? That there was you cheating on me!" Steve pointed out.

"No, I stopped and pushed him away. I knew it was wrong, Steve, you're my boyfriend, I love you, and I love Bruce, as a friend." Tony replied quickly.

"Yeah, and to think you were the one who thought I would cheat on *you* with Phil." Steve scoffed. "Is our relationship completely devoid of trust?"

"Uh, I certainly hope not." Tony replied. "And I didn't think *you'd* cheat on me, I thought Phil would kiss you. Difference."

"Yeah, and you didn't cheat on me, Bruce kissed you."

"Exactly!" Tony exclaimed, hoping Steve was catching on.

"So, what, I'm supposed to accept the fact that you'll kiss back every random person who kisses you?"

"No, I swear, it was a mistake. In my defense, he's a good kisser." Tony said, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Tony, for once, could you take this *seriously*? I don't even know if I can trust you anymore and you're making stupid jokes!" Steve said angrily.

"Actually, somewhat lighthearted comments, not jokes-"

"Same difference!" Steve interrupted.

"Steve, I trust you. You can trust me, I will not do anything with Bruce. I swear. If he does anything to me, I'll tell you what happened before you have to hear it from someone else." Tony promised.

"So, while I think about that, we both actually fell for the whole 'textbook in the janitor closet' thing?" Steve changed the subject.

"No, Loki told me I was supposed to wait in here for him to text me. He never did. I got suspicious, tried to leave, and your buddies and the nerd girl locked me in here. Ha ha, I'm smarter than you." Tony made a face, before realizing it was pointless considering Steve couldn't see his face.

"Yeah, I..." Steve paused to think of an excuse. "You know, I don't have a good excuse for believing that."

"Never assumed your friends would pull something like this?" Tony suggested.

"Huh, probably."

The two sat in silence for awhile.

Tony spoke first. "So, do you forgive me?"

Steve sighed. "Yeah. You won't do anything with Bruce?"

"How many times do I have to repeat it? I swear, Bruce is my best friend. *Nothing* more." Tony assured him vehemently.

"I forgive you. So long as you forgive me for completely overreacting before I heard the full story." Steve said, slightly embarrassed by his reaction at the museum.

"Hey, I kind of deserved that." Tony admitted.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hey man, you think they're okay in there?" Clint whispered as he, Thor, and Darcy returned from the class an hour after they locked the two guys inside.

"Dude, what if the smell was so freakin' bad and they both died? What if the toxic mold rumor's true?" Darcy said with a panicky look on her face.

"Well, I suppose we can find out." Thor replied.

They all walked quietly over to the door.

"This is it." Darcy said.

"Let's get our story straight. If they died, we had *nothing* to do with this. It was all Phil." Clint announced.

"Shut up, they aren't dead." Thor muttered.

Darcy and Clint watched as Thor turned the knob and flung the old door open melodramatically.

"Oh gosh, they're unconscious!" Darcy shrieked.

"Someone call 911!" Clint said, before realizing everyone else was at lunch already so nobody heard him besides his two friends.

"Help me get them out." Thor said as he grabbed ahold of Steve's arms and pulled him out.

"Since when do you need help?" Clint responded.

Thor just shrugged and dragged Tony out seconds later.

The three all knelt in front of the open door and looked into the faces of the two unconscious teens.

Darcy leaned over Steve and Tony.

"They're still breathing. They're okay." Darcy said happily.

Before the jock and archer could reply, Steve and Tony shot up and shoved both of them into the janitor's closet.

"Guys!" Darcy whined. "It was all a joke!"

Steve pushed her in anyway and looked the door as Thor tried to open it.

"That'll show you guys! Have fun missing the first half of lunch." Tony grinned and high-fived Steve as the two walked off, ignoring the protests coming from the closet.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha and Loki were deciding that it would be a good idea to see what was taking their friends so long to return.

"Lovely, you two have made up." Loki remarked as they strolled past Steve and Tony.

"Guys! Hey! Our plan worked!" Natasha grinned.

"Yeah, not so well for everyone." Steve giggled.

"Why are you *giggling*?" Loki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's confused." Tony made a 'crazy' gesture with his hand and pulled Steve towards the cafeteria.

"You don't think they locked Thor and the others in the closet?" Natasha asked.

"Probably." Loki responded with a shrug.

"We better go save them." Natasha sighed and they both walked off.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tony and Steve, ever the happy couple they used to be, took their seats at their table.

Before they could enjoy the delicious looking Italian lunch sitting in front of their faces, Bruce approached them.

"Hey guys."

"Hey bud! Guess you got out of suspension? That's great! Take a seat." Tony grinned to his friend.

"Yeah, uh, thanks." Bruce sat, looking warily at Steve, who wasn't looking extremely comfortable with Bruce sitting there.

"I just wanted to apologize to both of you, for screwing up your relationship like I did." He mumbled an apology.

"No worries, we're best friends, plus Steve's very forgiving." Tony said.

"Yeah, I forgive you." Steve said, sincere but wary.

"Well, that makes me feel better." Bruce sighed in relief.

"Good, now we can enjoy whatever this delicious looking pasta dish is." Tony said, digging in just as Steve's gang of friends entered the lunchroom looking sheepish, annoyed, and hungry.

Thor, after filling up his tray, sat down and cleared his throat.

"We're sorry for locking you in the stinky, smelly, beyond disgusting janitor's closet. Would you please forgive us?" He said with a sheepish smile.

"Sure, you got a taste of your own medicine anyways," Tony turned to Steve. "Now we need to lock Nat and Loki in there."

"Don't even think about it." Loki warned as he sat down.

Tony sulked while chewing his pasta.

"Just so everyone knows, there are no hard feelings here anymore." Steve announced.

"Great!" Clint exclaimed when no one else said anything.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. ASDFGHJKL I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SO FLIPPING LATE AND SHORT.

My sister kept warning me. It'll be late, she said. Go write, she said.

I am very apologetic. I am sorry. Loki gives you chocolate bunnies and tacos. Forgive me? *Puppy eyes*


	27. Maria's Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

A.N. I swear, I absolutely swear that I didn't mean to take so long to update. This is the longest I've even taken, and for that, I can truly only blame myself. So I apologize.

Hope you enjoy it. :)

Chapter 27

Maria Hill glanced around her classroom and frowned. Thanksgiving break had passed. Two weeks *after* Thanksgiving break had passed, and yet the students still seemed dazed. It was difficult to make them concentrate. She sighed.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Phil had always liked Miss Hill. He didn't have English with her, being fourteen, but she gave off that nice teacher vibe.

Well, at least when she wasn't too stressed to even talk to anyone other than her class. Unfortunately, today she was.

Phil never liked it when Miss Hill was stressed. He wanted to cheer her up.

The only thing that could cheer her up was seeing her students happy, and they all seemed to be barely hanging on, waiting extremely impatiently for the rest of the holidays.

Phil wanted to do something to cheer up the students too, so he went to Principal Fury and asked him what to do.

Turns out that Fury had an amazing idea. Well, to Phil.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Tuesday.

Maria usually liked Tuesdays. The students had usually snapped out of their weekend daze by then. This one wasn't going very well.

First, she woke up at 4 AM to find that the heating in her apartment was broken and it would cost 400 dollars to fix. 400 dollars she didn't have.

So she decided to take a shower and then realized that the hot water was gone. Her toilet refused to flush and she seemed to have misplaced her plunger.

Maria finally gave up on the bathroom and decided to eat breakfast. She made waffles and was nearly done when she realized she didn't have enough flour. So she ended up pouring the unfinished batter into the trash and eating some stale Pop-Tarts instead.

Then she ran out of gas three blocks to the school and walked the rest of the way, in high heels.

By the time she arrived, She was sporting red cheeks from the freezing cold, and Maria hated having red on her face. She also realized that she'd sprained her ankle.

The students were behaving better than she expected, until she sat down and realized someone had poured glue onto her seat.

Then Maria was angry, because her students loved her, they never played pranks.

She discovered that the childish prank was from a new kid in the ninth grade, so she forgave him and continued her day.

Then she realized that she forgot to bring lunch and was stuck eating chips or a ham sandwich, and Maria was a vegetarian and chose the chips, which turned out to be horribly stale and overly salty.

At the end of the day, she was exhausted. Fury was nice enough to give her his spare gas can which has enough to get her home plus some.

He even offered to drive her to where her car was stuck. She accepted gratefully.

He told her goodbye as they reached her car, but not before handing her a little package which he said was delivered by a student and meant for her.

Maria filled up her car with the gas and hopped in with a relieved sigh before opening the little box.

A note fell into her hand and she read it with a small smile.

"Dear Ms. Hill,

I noticed you weren't having the best day yesterday, so I decided to put this together. I don't know the significance, but the students had fun and I hope you enjoy listening to it.

Your Future Student,

Phil Coulson

P.S. Please forgive the questions about relationships. I seemed to forget what I was supposed to be asking them."

Maria took out a CD that read "Student Interviews" and put it in her car's music player, listening closely.

"Hey, this is Phil Coulson speaking to you from Stark High. I'm here to interview the students and find out exactly what they like and dislike about this school and its teachers. I'm also going to figure out what impact Stark High has had on their lives besides education. First up is Tony Stark, the son of Avengers' one and only Mayor Howard Stark." Maria continued listening, laughing slightly when she heard rustling and mumbling in the background.

"Okay Tony, what is your favorite thing about Stark High?" Phil asked, sounding 'professional'.

"The girl's volleyball team." Maria could tell that Tony wasn't excited about this interview. Tony began talking again. "I probably just love the school. It's great, really. The teachers actually teach stuff that's worth learning, even if I already know it all. Plus my name's in the school name."

Maria could practically see Tony's cheeky grin as she continued driving.

"And who is your favorite teacher?"

"Ms. Frost, my Science teacher. I could watch her all day." Maria rolled her eyes.

"Hey Phil, hey Tony." Maria recognized the voice as Steve Rogers, the only student who actually behaved that day.

"Hola, Cap." Tony greeted.

"So, you two are dating, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Steve asked.

"And you met at Stark High?"

"Yeah." Tony responded.

"So Stark High has changed your life in that way?"

"I guess so." Steve replied, sounding thoughtful.

"And you two seem to have a very close relationship. Have you by any chance consummated it yet?"

Maria laughed aloud and nearly ran a red light. She slammed on the breaks.

"That's none of your freaking business, Coulson!" Tony hissed.

Maria thought Phil really needed to understand that people didn't like it when you asked them about their sex lives.

"We almost did." Steve whispered. Maria wondered if Phil enhanced the audio.

"I'm going to go interview some others, bye!" Phil said quickly. The audio ended momentarily.

"Bruce Banner, isn't it?"

"Hey kid." Maria heard a weary voice that undoubtedly belonged to Bruce.

"Phil Coulson. I'm asking questions for a... survey. Would you mind answering?"

Bruce sounded like he brightened up a little bit. "Sure."

Maria was rather pleased when he said that his favorite teacher was, "Miss Hill because she's very knowledgable and she interacts with the students."

"So, has Stark High led you to meet any significant other?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but... Yeah. Sort of." Bruce said in hesitation.

"Any hints?" Phil pestered. Maria thought he'd make a better gossip columnist than normal journalist.

"Well, I did have a crush on my best friend, I thought it came back. But now I realize it came back as just, well, infatuation. Since Tony's dating Steve, they both decided it would be a great idea to mix their groups of friends. I recently hit it off really well with this one person who's friends with Steve, and I think I really like him." Bruce said.

"Him?"

"Okay Coulson, good interview."

Most of the interviews ended like this. Maria enjoyed them anyways.

Clint's 'interview' was probably her favorite.

"So, Clint, are you involved in any sort of romantic relationship?"

"Well, Philly-Steak, I am flattered by your interest, but I'm afraid a certain someone else has captured my attention, and we are the best couple since Bradgelina, or whatever it's called."

"I'm not interested, and Philly-Steak is a really weird nickname." Phil stated flatly. "Who is it?"

"Pfft, I'm not telling. Anything else?"

"Who is your favorite teacher?"

"There's only one person I like learning from. Myself." Maria rolled her eyes.

"I don't suppose you could do me a favor and say what I've written on this paper, could you?" Maria could hear Phil handing Clint a piece of paper.

"Sure," Clint cleared his throat. "Miss Hill, you are an amazing teacher, especially to deal with the obnoxious and immature antics of Tony Stark and Clint Bart- What is this?" Clint cleared his throat again. "Miss Hill, keep doing what you're doing. I'm learning while getting to stare at an incredibly sexy English teacher, it can't get better than that."

Maria laughed, listening to Phil's protests and scolding.

Maybe she didn't have such a bad day after all.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The next day, right after school, Tony and Steve were walking around the building and chatting when they were approached by Natasha.

"Hey Nat, where's your boyfriend?" Tony asked.

"With Thor. I need your help." She said.

"Sure, with what? It better not involve being stuck in smelly and disgusting janitor's closets." Steve replied quickly.

"No. I think Clint's dating someone, and he didn't tell me." Natasha said with a frown.

"Uh huh. You had a crush on Loki and didn't tell him." Tony pointed out.

"Yeah, but... Oh shut up, that's beside the point! Will you help me figure it out or not?" Natasha asked.

"I guess." Steve shrugged.

"Good. Here, I've tapped into his phone. Listen whenever he gets a call. I have to meet Loki, otherwise I'd do it myself." Natasha gave a little wave and ran off. "You can return the phone tomorrow!"

"Uh, okay." Steve mumbled. He nearly had a heart attack when the phone rang loudly. Tony grabbed it and answered it.

"Clint?"

"Hey Pepper."

Tony put the phone down momentarily and mouthed to Steve, who looked confused.

"He's talking to Pepper." Tony whispered before going back to the conversation.

"Is it still on for dinner?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Nat invited me over but I made a stupid excuse up. She doesn't suspect a thing."

"Why don't you just tell her?"

"Well, we aren't exactly the most conventional couple."

"Nat would understand."

"But then Tony might find out, and he'd probably freak! He gets protective of his friends."

"Uh, hello? Don't you think I noticed?" Pepper muttered.

Tony was extremely confused and a bit annoyed.

"Yeah, can't wait for tonight." Clint replied.

"Hope it lives up to your expectations." Pepper hung up.

"Tony? What's up?" Steve asked.

"Clint's dating... Pepper."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. Hey, I'd write more, but I'm leaving for a daytrip in 7 hours and I need my sleep. xD I'm kind of getting back into the swing of things here. And remember, things aren't always what they seem. x)

Reviews are appreciated! And again, please forgive me for the SUPER late update.


	28. Operation: Clint

A.N. Hey everyone! Guess what?

401 reviews! OH YEAH.

I would especially like to thank my *fantastic* four-hundredth reviewer, "carbonitedoubleohneg". I was waiting, waiting for that review, and BAM, 11 little words of win pop up in my email.

Thanks to all who reviewed! You guys are forever awesome. :D

By the way, the plot for this chapter was actually inspired by an episode from (Herp derp, laugh away. xD) "H2O: Just Add Water".

Chapter 28

"Pepper?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "Like, 'Pepper' Pepper?"

"Is there any other Pepper that we know?" Tony muttered.

"Tony, this is totally rude. We should ask Clint about it, not spy on his phone calls!" Steve announced in a sudden moment of realization.

"Fine, but that's no fun." Tony made a face and dialed Clint's number.

"Hello?"

"Clint! It's your best friend and Steve!" Tony said, grinning when Steve rolled his eyes.

"Oh, uh, hi guys. What do you need? I'm kind of in a hurry." Clint replied, sounding rushed.

"Hurry? Why are you in a hurry?" Tony said in an accusatory voice.

"Going out with a friend in a bit. Why are you so concerned?" Clint said.

Steve snatched away the phone. "Hey Clint, what Tony meant to say is that we accept any sort of relationship you have with anyone." Steve thought it sounded nice and polite.

"Uh... Thank you? I gotta go, see you guys tomorrow." Clint sounded suspicious as he ended the call.

"He hung up, didn't he? Crap Steve, you don't just blurt it out!" Tony whined.

"I wasn't going to guilt trip him or freak him out or whatever!" Steve protested in an equally childish manner.

Tony just scowled before calling Natasha.

"Hey, we should have a meeting. Steve and I intercepted a call that Clint had. Meet us by the door to the gym." Tony said quickly before Natasha could speak, and then hung up.

"Tony, are you *enjoying* this?" Steve asked with an unreadable expression.

"Hey, it's like we're spies. I can't help it if I've always been a secret James Bond fan." Tony said with a grin. "Let's go meet Agent Romanoff."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha raced to the gym as soon as Tony's call was finished. She was now sitting by the door and twiddling her thumbs, waiting for the two guys who were taking their own sweet time.

When she saw Tony making his way to her location, looking rather stupid, she couldn't realize if she was more amused or disturbed.

"Why are you acting like there are gunmen around every corner?" She asked him just as Steve rounded the corner.

"Because it's more fun that way." Tony replied matter-of-factly.

"So, what'd you find out?" Natasha asked eagerly, turning to Steve.

"He's 'going out with a friend' and we don't know where." Steve stated.

"I can help you guys find him."

All three of them spun around to find Phil Coulson, his heavy backpack slung over one of his shoulders.

"Phil, this really doesn't concern you." Steve said, not meaning to come across as rude but groaning slightly when he realized that's exactly what it sounded like.

"I know, but he has an iPhone, right? I can get into his iTunes and then use the 'Find My iPhone' app that's built in. It's not hard." Phil replied with a shrug.

"Perfect! We've got a totally full blown team! We now need epic code names." Tony rubbed his hands together. "I wanna be called 'Iron Man'."

Steve laughed.

"I want to be..." Natasha looked thoughtful. "Black Widow."

"Why?" Steve asked.

"I don't know. It sounds cool." She decided.

"I want to be..." Phil looked thrilled with the prospect of 'teaming up' with Steve and his friends.

"You're not an official member, you're just helping out. You're the tin dog." Tony mumbled.

"What?" Phil looked confused.

"Ah, nothing. You don't get a cool name. You're just Agent Coulson." Tony said coolly.

"Cool." Phil agreed.

Tony grumbled something unintelligible.

"Wait, you're hacking into his *phone* so you can *track* him?" Steve affirmed.

"Pretty much." Phil nodded.

"Is this creepy to anyone besides me?" Steve asked incredulously.

"You have no idea." Natasha shook her head. "But oh well. It's all in good fun."

"Right." Steve just sighed.

"Okay, Iron Man and... Steve. Your mission is to follow Clint when you figure out where he is. Ph- Agent Coulson, all you need to do is figure out the location, then you're cut loose. I'm going to sneak into Hawkeye's – that's Clint. – bedroom and look around for anything. Get it? Got it? Good." She said as they all nodded. "Wow, this is so much more fun than I thought." Natasha grinned before dashing off in the direction of the Barton household.

"This is so. Freaking. Weird." Steve groaned.

"Come on Steve, you can't deny that this is at least a *bit* fun." Tony said.

"Yes I can."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Not all that much later, Steve and Tony sat in Phil's living room while he typed away on his laptop.

"So, why are you calling yourself Iron Man?" Steve asked Tony, simply because there was nothing better to say.

"It's in one of my favorite songs." He replied.

"Got it!"

The two boys turned to Phil.

"Took you long enough." Tony grumbled.

"It would've been faster if I hadn't thought he'd make his password really secure." Phil said, glancing above the screen to see them.

"What was it?" Steve replied.

"Natasha is sexy." Phil responded. Tony sniggered. "Okay, looks like he's at... 2960 27th Street. Mean anything to either of you?"

Tony thought for a moment. "Yeah, yeah it does. That's that delicious Italian place I love to eat at all the time."

"Okay, I'll text Nat. You guys better get over there." Phil said as he pulled out his phone.

"C'mon Steve. You hungry? I'm sure we can pick up dinner too." Tony dragged Steve away.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Natasha loved that Clint's bedroom was on the first floor of his house. It made it easier for her to climb in through the window. Which for a reason unbeknownst to her was open slightly. That was only strange because it was winter and the middle of December in Avengers was always freezing.

"Barney? What the heck are you doing in here?" Natasha asked in surprise when she noticed Clint's older brother snooping through his journal.

"Hey Nat. I think the better question is, why are *you* climbing through my little brother's window?" He retorted.

"Touché. But still, why?" She asked, thankful that Barney wasn't the kind of brother that would kick her out.

"Because he's on a date."

"So?" Natasha shrugged like she already knew, but made a mental note about it. "With who?"

"He wouldn't say. But this is weird. Clint never gets dates. EVER." Barney emphasized. "Oh man, look at this." He motioned for Natasha to come over and look at his journal.

""Today we're finally going on a date. Steve and them don't know about us. I should tell them. We agreed that we're going to tell them, but it's not like they can do anything about anyways." The date's today." Barney looked up with wide eyes. "My baby brother's going to elope!"

"Uh, what?" Natasha said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well obviously! "It's not like they can do anything about it anyways." and you guys can't force them to get a divorce! Come on! We have to find them!" Barney said as he pulled Natasha outside and into his car.

Natasha pulled her phone out of her pocket as Barney started the engine. "Hey, Agent Coulson just texted me. They're at 2960 27th Street."

"Agent Coulson?"

"Uh, it's a long story." Natasha muttered.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hello?"

"Seriously Steve, took you long enough to answer! I called you four times!" Natasha's annoyed voice rang through.

"Uh, yeah," He mumbled before whispering, "Tony, I'm on the phone!"

"Are you okay? Your voice sounds weird."

"Uh, fine. Just fine." Steve made a noise.

"Was that a moan?"

"Uh. No."

"Oh my gosh, are you two doing something?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'something'." Tony said into the phone.

"Seriously, you two are supposed to be watching for Clint, not... Whatever you're doing!"

"Yeah, well he's not here and the bathroom's empty." Tony said. Natasha groaned.

"Just knock it off. Barney and I are coming over there."

"Barney?" Steve asked, but Natasha hung up.

"Ew."

"What's up?" Barney asked, turning a corner.

"I think I just overheard one of my best friends having sex."

Barney got a panicky look. "Was it Clint?"

"No you idiot. It was Steve. Clint's not picking up his phone." Natasha muttered.

"Ah, okay then." Barney said in a relieved voice.

Natasha looked at her phone when it made a dinging noise. "1 new message from Steve."

"We weren't having sex. Just to help erase the mental images I'm sure you came up with." It read.

"Yeah, you were just passionately kissing?" She texted back.

"Exactly."

"Not much of a difference." She typed.

"There's Clint!" Barney pointed out as they arrived at the restaurant.

"And who's he with?" Natasha said, trying to get a glimpse.

"Some redhead chick." Barney mumbled.

"Redhead chick? Is it Pepper?"

"I don't know! Who's Pepper?" Barney shrugged. "They're leaving! Oh man, they're heading in the direction of the church!"

Tony and Steve walked out of the building at that moment, both looking slightly disheveled.

"Get in the car losers, we're going wedding crashing." Barney ordered.

Steve and Tony exchanged equally confused glances while Natasha just rolled her eyes.

"Wedding crashing?" Steve asked as they slid into the car.

"Yep," Barney began to drive off. "Clint's marrying some redhead chick."

"Holy crap, Clint's marrying Pepper? How?" Tony exclaimed with a shocked expression.

"Fake IDs, duh!" Barney said like it was obvious.

"Guys, don't you think that maybe we're, I don't know, *completely wrong*?" Steve asked, not really believing any of it.

Natasha tried to speak but was cut off by Barney. "No, Clint wrote it in his journal!"

Steve looked at Natasha, rather shocked. She could've explained it, but didn't bother because it was pretty fun seeing all of them run around thinking Clint was eloping/marrying/whatever (because Barney kept changing the story) with Pepper.

They were continuing to follow Pepper and Clint when it started snowing pretty hard out of nowhere.

"I can't see now." Tony grumbled.

"I can! They're going into the church!" Barney exclaimed.

"We have to stop this!" Steve said. They all clambered out of the car and dashed into the church.

"STOP THE WEDDING!" Barney hollered.

The pastor, Pepper, and Clint all turned and stared at the four that entered the building.

"Say what?" Clint looked confused.

"How can you marry them? It's apparent that they're only teenagers!" Tony exclaimed.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're talking about. Would you care to explain?" The pastor asked, saying exactly what Pepper and Clint were both thinking.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Wait, you dug through my journal, hacked my iTunes account- Man, I feel scandalized. Why the heck did you think Pepper and I were getting married?" Clint asked, trying to hide his amusement.

"Barney said you were. Guess he read too much into it." Natasha said.

"Why were you at the restaurant with Pepper?" Steve asked.

"I was getting dinner and Pepper helped get me a reservation. I guess it's hard to get reservations there." Clint replied.

"Why were you and Pepper walking together?" Tony asked.

"Well, I finished eating and I decided to walk Pepper home because she ate there too. We went inside the church so we could call a cab because it started snowing like crazy out there. My phone just died and Pepper forgot hers at home." Clint said in a bored voice.

"I'm afraid you aren't going to be able to get a cab. To be honest, I don't even think you're going to be able to drive home." The pastor, a nice guy named Jim, said, turning to Barney.

"Why not?" Pepper said.

"Haven't you kids been watching the news? This snowstorm has been heading towards us for days. It's the biggest that Avengers has seen in an extremely long time. I'm afraid you're snowed in. Why do you think there were barely any cars on the street when you were coming here? Everyone's inside, waiting out the storm." Pastor Jim said.

They all exchanged looks.

"You kids are gonna be here a while."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. Ooo, make that 402 reviews! :D

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Reviews are always appreciated. :D

Hey, I'm wondering, if you have this story in your favorites or alerts, leave a review this chapter. I want to see how many of you that started reading it are still reading. :)


	29. The Day They Were Stuck in Church

A.N. My gosh, you guys are awesome! I'm going to say that I have around 30 readers who are still reading, cause that's how many reviews I got last chapter. :D I also got a few new followers who didn't review, so... Around 30 readers?

So, practically 30 REVIEWS for ONE chapter. You're awesome.

Oh, and yeah, I do realize that Steve's uncle doesn't have a name, haha, thanks for reminding me though. He needs one. Any suggestions? I can't think of a name awesome enough for him. xD

Chapter 29

"Well, I think I need to go... Uh, do something. In the... Bathroom." Clint said quickly, breaking the awkward silence that had set in after Pastor Jim's announcement and hoping that they wouldn't ask what he thought they would.

"Wait, so when you'd start dating Pepper?" It was Steve who asked.

"Oh, that... Well, we aren't exactly, uh, dating." Clint said, before realizing how stupid that sounded.

"No, of course we aren't dating!" Pepper cut in, annoyed. "I promised not to say anything more, but I'm not dating anyone."

Everyone (With the exception of the still somewhat confused Pastor Jim.) turned and gave quizzical and confused glances to Clint.

"Well, that's somewhat good news. If you really had been dating, I would've been pretty miffed that you hadn't told me. After all, I'm just your best friend." Natasha said coolly.

Clint looked rather uncomfortable.

"So, Pastor Jim, I finished organizin- Clint? Tony? What are you all doing here?" They glanced at the new arrival in surprise.

"Bruce. The snowstorm finally showed up. I'm afraid you and your friends are stuck here for the time being, at least until the snow lets up enough so you can call a cab." Pastor Jim explained.

"Bruce, hey." Clint greeted.

"What are you doing here?" Barney asked, slightly confused by the coincidental meeting of all the teens at the same place.

"I help out here every week, doing odd jobs and chores and things. Course, you all are under the impression that all I do is school." Bruce muttered.

Tony looked thoughtful. "If you aren't dating Pepper, who are you involved in a relationship with?" He asked Clint.

"It's not important, is it?" Clint said in a whiny tone.

"I'll leave you all to talk, I have bills to tend to. If you need anything, I'll be in the back room." Pastor Jim decided, sensing that the teenagers were going to discuss something he probably wouldn't care for. "And please *don't* turn my church into a circus." He left the room.

"Yes it is." Barney said.

"It's Bruce." Steve deduced. "He said, Tony, that you might not be entirely agreeable on his relationship because you're protective over your friends. Bruce is like your brother, and Pepper, your sister. Since he's not dating Pepper, it sounds exactly like he's dating Bruce." Steve looked satisfied with himself.

"Bruce? I thought my brother was kissing a sweet and somewhat pretty-" Pepper rolled her eyes. "red headed teenage chick, instead, he's sucking some science nerd's-"

"Barney, why don't you shut up for once in your life?" Clint burst out angrily.

"Are you gay now?" Barney retorted.

"Boys!" Natasha intervened before the argument could escalate. "Seriously, you guys are so immature! Barney, what are you, seventeen? You should know better than this! Get real, Clint's your brother and you should support him."

Barney grumbled an unintelligible reply and Clint just looked somewhat thankful.

"So, you two really *are* dating?" Tony spoke up.

"While you and your boyfriend were a little too caught up in each other," Steve blushed. "Clint and I were having a lovely dinner of Italian food that Pepper helped set up." Bruce said.

"Oh." Tony shut up.

"Wow."'Barney looked surprised.

Natasha smacked Clint on the arm.

"Ow! Nat, what was that for?" Clint said, rubbing his arm.

"For not telling me you were dating." Then she proceeded to kiss him on the cheek. "That was for finally getting over me and getting yourself a boyfriend."

"Now that *that* cliché moment's over," Barney said, rolling his eyes. "I texted your friend Thor, the one with the car. He's coming to help, apparently."

"Thor has a car?" Steve wondered aloud.

"Help? That won't do any good, tell him to stay and keep his stupid self inside!" Pepper reprimanded. Barney just shrugged.

"Is Loki coming too?" Natasha inquired.

"Some party we've got going on. Ask Thor to bring me some pie." Tony grinned.

"I better call my uncle to tell him I'm alright. I still don't see how we can't get out." Steve said, flipping open his phone.

Tony looked out the window before walking over to the group. "It's snowing like there's no tomorrow out there! I think there's more than two feet of snow on the ground. I'll be surprised if Thor actually gets here." He said before sitting and snuggling up to Steve.

Clint made a face. "Man, PDA much?"

Natasha ignored his comment. "Great. I'll text Thor and tell him to head back. The last thing we need is him stranded in the middle of the street and covered in snow, freezing to death."

"You're just worried about Loki." Tony mumbled in a singsong voice that was slightly muffled since his face was buried in Steve's shoulder.

"Shut up." Natasha scowled. She dialed Thor's number and waited for a minute before putting down the phone.

"He didn't answer." She said with a frown.

"I bet he's fine." Steve said with a contented sigh.

"You two are just too wrapped up in each other to notice anything. *Again*." Natasha said.

Steve smiled. "Yeah, probably."

Barney made an 'ahem' noise. "So if you two were on a date, how'd Bruce get here before you did?"

"I took a cab right after we finished dinner." Bruce replied.

"Oh." It seemed that Barney was eager to catch his younger brother in another lie, but he wasn't succeeding very well.

"Barney, I really wish you wouldn't try to involve yourself in my life anymore than you have to be." Clint grumbled.

"Whatever baby brother."

"I'm fifteen! I'm not your baby brother!" Clint protested.

"Guys, stop arguing." Bruce said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fine." Clint grumbled.

"Aw, wittle Cwint wistens to everything that his wittle boyfwiend tells him to, how sweet." Barney drawled in a baby voice.

Clint growled and grumbled something under his breath before turning back to Barney. "No, I just don't want my 'big bwother' getting hurt because, Barney, when Bruce gets angry. He gets *angry*." Clint said calmly.

Barney just rolled his eyes and sat near the double doors.

"Well, I just called my uncle. He said he'll tell your parents what happened for you, Tony. Clint, you guys might want to call your parents too." Steve said.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll do all you guys a favor and call your parents too." Clint said, grateful to leave his annoying brother and the pestering questions of his friends.

"I'll help you out." Bruce spoke up.

Barney glared as the two left the room for a quiet spot.

"Barney, get over yourself." Natasha muttered.

Suddenly, the doors of the church swung open. The wind was blowing furiously and snow was blowing in as well.

"Hello friends!" A voice boomed, then Thor walked in, along with two slightly smaller figures.

"Thor! Get in here!" Pepper ordered as the cold swept through the room.

"I apologize." He said loudly as he and the other two with him forced the doors shut. "Darcy and Loki have accompanied me!" Thor said, and they noticed a grin as he pulled the scarf off of his mouth.

"Loki, you moron! You could've frozen to death!" Natasha scolded.

"And you shouldn't worry so much." Loki replied.

"I don't worry." Natasha frowned.

"Hey guys, got any food? I'm starving and walking two blocks didn't help." Darcy groaned, pulling off her coat, gloves, and scarf.

"You walked two blocks? What happened?" Steve untangled himself from Tony – much to Tony's dismay. – and faced his friends with concern on his face.

"My car couldn't go any longer, but *we* had snowshoes." Thor shrugged and lifted up a foot.

"Wasn't his brightest moment." Loki rolled his eyes.

"So you guys walked two blocks in the freezing snow just to get to us?" Tony said, getting up and stretching.

"More or less. Now, food." Darcy said and left the room, deciding to roam around the church.

"She's complained the whole way, Thor. I told you we should have left her at home." Loki mumbled.

"I would never make you leave Natasha alone at our house. So I wasn't going to let you make me." Thor made a face.

After a bit of bugging from Tony, Steve had returned to their spot on the pew and they were drifting off to sleep, snuggling again.

Pepper snickered and pulled out her phone. "This'll make a great Facebook picture." She said, before remembering that her phone was dead and setting it down with a scowl.

"Allow me." Loki smirked and took a picture of it himself and then texted it to Pepper.

"Go away, guys." Steve mumbled without opening his eyes.

Natasha cooed. "Aw, you guys are so cute."

Tony grumbled something under his breath. Steve laughed.

"What?" Natasha asked, but was distracted when Darcy came back into the room with a funny look on her face.

"Are you okay?" Thor asked.

"I will never un-see that," Darcy said with wide eyes. "I don't know if that's a good or bad thing." She finished thoughtfully.

Clint and Bruce rushed into the room and Bruce gave a look to Darcy. A look that said, 'Please don't breathe a word of this to anyone. I mean, look at me I'm so sad with my puppy eyes and I don't deserve that.'

"What'd you see?" Barney snapped up from his spot on the floor.

"Nothing I'm telling you." Darcy replied and sat down, smirking at Bruce and Clint.

Natasha glanced between them and then got a knowing look on her face, Pepper was confused, and Thor was ignoring them and explaining something to Loki, likely something to do with his not-so newfound obsession with "Supernatural". The only time Loki ever paid attention was when Thor mentioned a character who went by the name "Loki".

"Uh, yeah. We're all good. Parents understand and all that crap." Clint mumbled.

Pastor Jim decided it would be a good time to enter the room. Steve practically killed himself when he frantically moved off of Tony.

Bruce spun on his heel and faced the pastor. "Uh, hi again. Our friends got here safely." He couldn't think of anything better to say.

"Good. I'll find you kids something to eat," Pastor Jim studied him for a moment. "You look very red, Bruce. You alright?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah I'm great." Bruce replied, looking at the floor for a second.

"Alright then." He left again and Bruce let out an audible sigh of relief.

"What? Embarrassed that you were making out with your boyfriend in an empty hallway of a church?" Barney snarked.

"Barney, shut up!" Clint groaned. Bruce just chuckled despite himself.

"Steeeeeve. I'm cold and tired, sit back down." Tony mumbled and pulled his boyfriend back down.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Pastor Jim entered the room about fifteen minutes later.

"It appears we still had quite a lot of desserts from our indoor bake sale last week. I made you hot chocolate too." He announced.

"Thank you!" Thor said appreciatively.

They all thanked Pastor Jim before he left with the empty trays, then they sat and watched the snow fall, munching on Christmas cookies and drinking hot cocoa.

-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. Short chapter is short. x( My sincere apologies.

What's coming up, folks? You guessed it...

The ending.

DUN DUN DUN.

I did realize that half the story wasn't as Stony as I originally intended. Uh, whoops. xP It appears you still enjoyed it though, so I guess all is good. :D

Reviews and suggestions are appreciated! :D


	30. The Long Overdue Christmas

A.N. Well, we've come to it, my amazing, fantastic, brilliant, amazing- uh, readers.

All good things must come to an end.

I read that somewhere...

Anyways. This is, indeed, the last chapter. The finale. The...

End.

You have all been so amazing throughout this entire story. You've dealt with my erratic updates and my long Author's Notes, you've left perfectly marvelous reviews which almost never fail to make me smile, and, most importantly, you've put up with the extremely long wait. Three months, hasn't it been?

So old readers, new readers, readers who start reading this 400 years in the future: (That'd be timey-wimey... and awesome.)

Enjoy the (EXTREMELY OVERDUE.) finale.

Chapter 30

"So, what I want to know is, how did Bruce and Clint get together anyways?" Tony asked, his mouth full of partially chewed cookie.

Steve smacked his arm. "Didn't anyone ever teach you manners?"

"What? Everyone wants to know," Tony shrugged.

"I meant about talking with your mouth full."

"Oh. Well, anyways, nobody answered my question. I'm looking at you, Bruce," Tony gave a pointed glare to said science nerd.

"Why do I have to tell you? Ask Clint," Bruce mumbled, *after* swallowing.

"Nope. You're my best friend, not him. Therefore, it's your duty to explain to me," Tony replied.

"Fine. Well, I guess for me, it started about a week or two ago. I was feeling lonely - you were too busy with your boyfriend to notice - so I called Natasha and asked her if I could come over and hang out with her. We've been 'friends' for a while now. She said I could, as long as I didn't mind hanging out with her friend, Clint. I accepted and came over. See, we'd already met all the times you two," He gestured to Steve and Tony. "Got us all together for group dates or whatever, but we barely exchanged two words the entire time. So, Natasha disappeared for awhile, and we talked. I don't know, I just was... attracted to him," Bruce continued awkwardly. "He was good company, and I liked him, despite the fact that we barely have anything in common. I didn't tell anybody, though I would've told you, Tony, if you weren't so... preoccupied, about it. I figured I'd forget about him in a few days. I didn't, and since he wouldn't leave my mind, I told Pepper. Pepper, however, couldn't keep her mouth shut, and she ended up asking Clint what he thought of me. Apparently, he responded with something along the lines of, "I'd tap that.""

"I said no such thing! Twisted words, I swear," Clint denied.

"Right. Pepper told me what he 'said', and then proceeded to make a reservation for us at the restaurant. If I recall correctly, I think it was the same one that Tony and Steve went on their first 'date' at, but I don't remember. So, through Pepper's Cupid-esque schemes and Clint's oh-so-eloquent tongue, we ended on a date. The rest you guys already know, I suppose," Bruce shrugged. "I did ask Clint not to tell you guys about us, because I wasn't sure if we were going to end up 'dating' or not."

"So... the diary entry wasn't about your wedding?" Barney said.

"... No. We're not getting married, we just went on our first date!" Clint scowled. "Who says we're even together? Maybe we're just dating occasionly or something."

"Really? Wow, I thought we were together now. Suppose I was under the wrong impression," Bruce mumbled.

"No, that's not what I meant! I was just wanting Barney to shut his stupid face!" Clint protested.

"Guys, keep the domestics outside, if you please," Loki muttered, taking a sip of cocoa.

"Well, guess I can understand that. He is a pretty big jerk," Bruce said thoughtfully.

"Friends, if you'd been watching the windows, you would have noticed that the snow stopped minutes ago," Thor said, interrupting the conversation.

"Marvelous, I want to go home," Loki said, relieved.

"Okay, looking for clarification here. Bruce and Clint are together, correct?" Steve spoke up. The two nodded simultaneously. "The snow stopped," Thor nodded. "And we can go home?"

"Yeah. C'mon, vamanos!"

"Tony, did you just quote "Dora"?" Steve looked amused.

"Pfft, no. I learned Spanish last night. Now let's go, I'm tired," Tony yawned, stretching the 'i'.

"Come Loki, Darcy, we must make our way back to my vehicle," Thor announced, pulling on his coat, scarf, and gloves.

"Nuh-uh. No way. You two crazy... How is it Loki puts it? Loons. You two crazy loons go back to the car. I'll wait here and you can come get me. Kay?" Darcy said, not really asking.

"Very well, I shall see you soon," Thor gave her a kiss. "Come Loki, let's go."

Loki sighed. "Goodbye, Natasha." He got up and, pulling on his coat (Which was much thinner than Thor's, and Steve thought it something of a miracle that he didn't freeze to death.), followed Thor out the door.

"Okay, let's get into Barney's butt-ugly van/car/thing," Barney let out an indignant noise. "And get the heck out of here." Clint said, rubbing his hands together.

"You go ahead. I'm going to stay here with Darcy and leave with Thor and Loki. I'm sure they won't mind," Bruce said.

"Okay, see you later," Clint said, and, after looking at Barney, kissed Bruce before waltzing out the door.

"Stupid Clint," Barney grumbled.

"You're just jealous that you can't ever get a girlfriend!" Clint's singsong reply came from outdoors.

"Your ex-girlfriend dated me!" Barney shouted as he exited.

"Bobbi? Her standards are *low*, man!"

Steve just groaned. "This'll be fun."

Tony snickered and pulled his boyfriend out the door.

"So, everyone's got a happy ending, huh?" Darcy said to Bruce.

"Yeah, seems like that."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

December 25th

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Steve! Get up, we're going to be late!"

Steve groaned and rolled over.

"Seriously? Come on, bud. It's Christmas, and remember, we're going to the Starks' house! I've got all the presents in this big Santa bag I bought at the Dollar Tree. Cool, huh?" Steve's uncle entered the room and waved it in front of his face.

"Yeah, sure." Steve sat up with a slight smile.

"That's the Christmas spirit! Now, put on a sweater or something, it's freezing outside," He dashed out of the room.

"Got it," Steve stood up and trudged to his closet, grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Steve, I told you, sweater. Seriously, you're going to die of freeze-ation."

"You mean I'm going to freeze to death, or I'm going to die of frostbite. Freeze-ation isn't a word," Steve said, not bothering to change his shirt before he pulled on his cost.

"I'll be fine," Steve assured as he walked out the door.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Bruce, sweetie, it's time to get up. You don't want to be the last one arriving at the Starks', do you?"

"No, Mom. I'm awake anyways, I have been for hours," Bruce replied, walking down the stairs.

"Oh, that's good, then. I'm pretty sure Maria invited your boyfriend's family too, so they'll be there."

"Yeah, that's what Clint said."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Does he HAVE to come?"

"Stop whining, Clint," Mrs. Barton scolded. "Barney is your brother, and the whole family was invited, so of *course* he's coming. Get over it."

"Yeah, you can deal," Barney smirked.

"Ugh, whatever," Clint scoffed.

"I'm not going!" He turned, stomped up the stairs, and slammed his bedroom door.

"You are *too* going. It's Christmas, now get your butt down these stairs!" She ordered adamantly.

Clint grudgingly trudged down the stairs. "Fine, but I won't enjoy it."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Thor dug frantically in the kitchen cupboards before running to the bathroom and banging on the door. "Loki, where are my Pop-Tarts?!"

Loki peered out from the bathroom. "I threw them away," He answered coolly and shut the door.

"What? Why? You couldn't have!"

"Yes, I did. Father has informed me that the Romanoffs are bringing breakfast for everyone to the Starks'. I knew you wouldn't care and you'd end up eating those stupid breakfast pastries anyway, so I threw the last of them away. Mother said I could," Loki replied, somewhat muffled by the door that was between them.

"But that's not fair! I get hungry!" Thor complained.

"You can eat with your girlfriend and the rest of us," Loki responded.

"Nyah," Thor made a face at the door.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Tony, did you mess with the tree again?" Maria remarked, looking at their 12 foot tall Christmas tree.

"Depends on what you mean by 'mess'," Tony answered.

"Just as long as it doesn't spin out of control and kill us all," Howard said, appearing from the dining room.

"All the places set?" Maria asked.

"Yes, dear."

"Good. Tony? Go greet the guests, please."

"Mom, you always make me do that," Tony groaned.

"Fine, do that or change that t-shirt into a suitable sweater."

"No. No, no, no. I hate my sweaters, they're ugly," Tony shook his head. "I refuse."

"Then greet the guests," Maria replied.

"Ugh, fine," Tony replied.

"Really, you'd expect that you'd have a better attitude on Christmas Day," Howard said.

Tony just walked to the door.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Christmas was perfect.

Natasha's family had brought lots of food, cinnamon rolls being the main dish. (Everybody ate at least one.)

Everybody exchanged gifts.

And the rest of the day was all of them playing board games, video games, any sort of game, really.

The end of the day had finally arrived, and everybody was getting ready to leave.

"Wait, since we're all here, I have one question. In the, what, three months you've been here, I've never ever heard your uncle's name," Clint said to Steve before anyone had left. "What is it?"

Steve laughed and looked at his uncle, who didn't say a thing. "Well, since you asked..."

"Yeah, seriously Steve, what is his name?" Tony asked.

"Oswald. He's Uncle Oswald," Steve grinned.

"Your name is... Oswald?" Natasha resisted the urge to laugh.

"Ah, what a... unique name," Loki replied.

"Hey, at least it's not Kevin," Bruce responded.

"Kevin? What's wrong with the name Kevin?" Thor asked.

"I don't like the name Kevin," Loki shrugged.

So everyone had a good Christmas.

Everyone there, at least.

But 75 miles away, there was one thirteen year old boy whose Christmas was spent much differently.

He had a perfectly fine Christmas.

At least, until night came.

Night fell, and his house was burned to the ground. With his house, everything else.

Including his two parents.

So what would the next year bring? Nobody knew. For Steve, it meant his first year spent without his parents. For Bruce, it meant his first year not feeling lonely. But for thirteen year old, teary-eyed Peter Parker, nothing good seemed to be able to come of it.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A.N. That, my friends, was the end of "Falling in Love with the Billionaire's Son". I have finally finished it, and, as you can see, I've left plenty of room for a sequel. That's just how I do things.

So, reviews are appreciated, as usual.

By the way, I've began writing another story, it's Thorki (Sorry guys, I was sucked in.), and it's an AU based on Disney's Mulan. (It's really different though.) If you want to read it, just head to my profile.

So, my amazing, amazing followers, I hope you enjoyed this story, and I hope you forgive me for taking freaking FOREVER to update.


	31. And They All Lived Happily- LOLNOPE AN

A.N. So, the sequel begun! Get your butts over to my profile and read it if you want.


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